Our head coach had promised to freshen things up after our disappointing first-half performance in defeat at Arsenal and has stuck to his word, with just five players keeping their place from that match.

The biggest changes come in defence, where only Ben Chilwell retains his place in front of Edouard Mendy. Cesar Azpilicueta returns to captain the side from right-back, while Toni Rudiger and Andreas Christensen will make up the centre-back pairing.

In midfield, Jorginho comes into the side in place of Mateo Kovacic, beside N’Golo Kante and Mason Mount, while ahead of them Olivier Giroud takes up the central position of our front three.

Callum Hudson-Odoi starts on the wing after impressing from the bench in the second half at the Emirates Stadium. Christian Pulisic is the other to keep his place.

Aston Villa are without Ross Barkley, as he is on loan from Chelsea, but do have former Blues youngster Bertrand Traore in their line-up. Their only change from the team that beat Crystal Palace is at centre-back, where Ezri Konsa replaces the suspended Tyrone Mings.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Mendy; Azpilicueta (c), Christensen, Rudiger, Chilwell; Kante, Jorginho, Mount; Hudson-Odoi, Giroud, Pulisic

Subs: Kepa, Thiago Silva, Tomori, Emerson, Kovacic, Gilmour, Havertz, Werner, Abraham

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Hause, Konsa, Targett; McGinn, Douglas Luiz; Traore, Grealish (c), El Ghazi; Watkins

Subs: Heaton, Taylor, Engels, Nakamba, Guilbert, Elmohamady, Hourihane, Ramsey, Davis

The referee is Stuart Attwell

Stats recap

Chelsea have won our last six league games against Aston Villa, our best winning run against them.

Aston Villa have lost 10 of their last 11 Premier League games against Chelsea, winning the other at Villa Park in March 2014.

Chelsea have won our past five Premier League home games against Aston Villa, by an aggregate score of 17-2. We have never won six consecutive league games against them at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues have scored 34 goals against Aston Villa on their last 10 visits to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. Our 8-0 victory in 2012 equalled our all-time biggest league win.

The Villans have not kept a Premier League clean sheet at the Bridge since March 1998 (19 games).

Their last victory at the Bridge was when Alex McLeish was in charge in December 2011 when goals from Stephen Ireland (below), Stiliyan Petrov and Darren Bent replied to Didier Drogba’s penalty opener for the Blues.

Chelsea are unbeaten in six Premier League home games (four wins, two draws), scoring 17 goals in that run.

Chelsea have lost our final league game just once in the last 17 calendar years, coincidentally against Aston Villa in 2011, the last time they came away from the Bridge with three points when Andre Villas-Boas was in charge.

Tammy Abraham has scored 26 goals for the Blues since the start of last season, eight more than any other Chelsea player.

Olivier Giroud has scored in his last six Premier League appearances against Villa, scoring eight goals in that run.

Our final game of 2020 will be our 50th in all competitions and we need to score three to reach a century of goals in the calendar year.

All Premier League matches in this round will be covered live in the UK by subscription channel Amazon Prime.