Football Bet of the Day: Villa to hit Chelsea while they’re down

Aston Villa host Chelsea at Villa Park for their FA Cup fourth-round replay on Wednesday evening (20:00).

After a few recent setbacks, Villa delivered an excellent away performance against Sheffield United as they cruised to a 5-0 victory in the Premier League over the weekend.

Chelsea, on the other hand, were well beaten as they lost 4-2 to Wolverhampton Wanderers as their woes on and off the pitch continue.

It was very surprising to see the reverse fixture end 0-0 given the quality in attack that both these sides have. Villa have Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby, while Chelsea are heavily reliant on Cole Palmer for their attacking returns.

But one of these teams has to progress to the fifth round on this occasion, and should they cancel each other out again, penalties will be required.

Although Villa lost their first league game at Villa Park for 346 days against Newcastle United last week, they remain a strong force at home, and the Magpies are a much more stable club than Chelsea right now.

We think backing Villa to win this game in 90 minutes at 6/5 offers excellent value given the fact they are at home and also because Chelsea's players will still be reeling from their embarrassment at Stamford Bridge to Wolves last time out.

What lies ahead in the fifth round for either of these teams is a meeting with either Leeds United or Plymouth Argyle, which will be seen as a favourable route to the quarter-finals.

Chelsea may put on a sharper performance than they did at the weekend but it is hard to see it being enough to stump this Villa side.

Unai Emery has been overseeing one of the jobs of the season in B6 and even if the Premier League title might be a step too far right now, his side have the quality and character to have a real shot at FA Cup glory.

Beating an out-of-sorts Chelsea sets them up to face a side from the Championship and should they get through that, they may start to believe that they can use their talents this year to end the term with some silverware.

It's still early days but this Villa team cannot be underestimated, and they should dispose of Chelsea relatively comfortably on Wednesday night.