Chelsea visit Villa Park this Saturday for another away assignment that could be as stiff a test for the champions as the Manchester City game that the Stamford Bridge squad lost.
In their home match against Chelsea last year, the Villans prevailed 2-0, and against Ancelotti's injury-hit squad, there's no reason why the result cannot be similar this time around.
SEASON 3 PREMIERE
There's good news for Chelsea in that Frank Lampard will be in action on Saturday. Lampard's groin problem has also seen him miss three qualifiers for the England national side, apart from seven Chelsea games.
But the real worry is in defence. Although John Terry who missed England's international against Montenegro is likely to start at Villa Park, there's a question mark over his match fitness, with the Chelsea skipper not fully recovered from the back spasms that kept him from international duty on Tuesday at Wembley.
Alex whose sensational free-kick against Arsenal is a front runner for the goal of the Premiership is also yet to recover from his thigh injury picked him in that game. Dutch youngster Jeffrey Bruma has a hamstring strain.
All this is good news for Villa's Norwegian striker John Carew who at 6'3" could present a towering problem for Chelsea's lone fit centre-half, Serb Branislav Ivanovic. Either Michal Essien or Paulo Ferreira could partner Ivanovic in Saturday's game.
While Salomon Kalou's return from injury is good news for Ancelotti, Yossi Benayoun's hamstring injury sustained during the Carling Cup loss to Newcastle could keep him out of the game for several weeks more.
Villa have recorded three wins over Chelsea in the past seven seasons; all of them have come at Villa Park. Coming off a loss to Tottenham, in their seventh match of the ongoing Premiership, the Villans will be hoping to continue their great performance at home against the Blues.
They will be helped in this by the return of Agbonlahor who missed the Spurs game, but Albrighton, sidelined with a groin problem, is likely to miss out on Saturday's game.
The last time these sides met was at stamford Bridge, a game that ended in a 7-1 demolition of Aston Villa by Chelsea. However, Ancelotti's men are likely to approach Saturday's game with circumspection.
The following men started for Aston Villa in their last Premier League match against Tottenham: Gomes, Hutton, Huddlestone, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Van der Vaart, Jonas, Modric, Bale, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch
The substitutes were: Corluka, Palacios, Lennon, Kranjcar, Sandro, Keane, Cudicini
Chelsea's starting eleven against Arsenal comprised: Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Ramires, Malouda, Anelka, Drogba
The substitutes were: Kakuta, Van Aanholt, Sturridge, Zhirkov, McEachran, Ferreira, Turnbull
Premier League Match Time: Aston Villa Vs Chelsea SEASON 3 PREMIERE
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