Chelsea's Villa test
Carlo Ancelotti admits Chelsea must beat Aston Villa on Sunday before the champions can start to believe they have ended the miserable run that threatens to destroy their title challenge.
Ancelotti's grip on his job appeared to be weakening with every passing game during a woeful run that saw last season's double winners slip to fifth place.
A stuttering win over Bolton on Wednesday, Chelsea's first in seven league games, was hardly emphatic enough to herald the dawn of a new era, but it did bring Ancelotti and his players some much-needed respite and gave them the psychological lift of moving back into the top four.
The post-match talk at Stamford Bridge turned once again to the title but Ancelotti knows full well his side will once again be written off if they fail to beat a Villa side currently on an alarming slide towards the wrong end of the table.
So far, the champions do not appear to have recovered from the shock of that defeat and their air of invincibility has certainly disappeared.
Whether Villa can exploit Chelsea's weaknesses is another matter altogether, however.
Gerard Houllier's team will certainly take heart from the likely appearance of young centre back Jeffrey Bruma in the Blues league starting line-up for the first time.
Bruma, 19, is expected to come in for the suspended Branislav Ivanovic, who serves a one-match ban after collecting his fifth booking of the season against Bolton, while centre back Alex is out for another month following knee surgery.
Villa's decline over the past 12 months has been alarming, with the club starting the year with hopes of a Champions League place, and ending it with their lowest points tally after 19 Premier League games since 1995.
Already Houllier is under pressure after just 17 games in charge and the manager admits he has endured a difficult period.
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