Aston Villa defender expected to miss the game against Chelsea

Aston Villa are expected to be without left-back Lucas Digne for the trip to Stamford Bridge on Friday night. Digne has been battling a hamstring injury and even though he's made progress, the FA Cup game this week might come too soon for him. 

Villa manager Unai Emery admitted a couple of weeks ago that they had to be patient with him if they wanted to avoid a setback with important games coming. He told reporters: "I don't know exactly [when he will be back], we're not playing next week, we're playing two weeks later. Maybe yes, but we have to be patient."

Chelsea have their own injury issues going into this one with Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Robert Sanchez all expected to miss out due to fitness issues. French forward Christopher Nkunku has missed the last four games, but was spotted in training and a return to the bench is not entirely ruled out.

The Blues will be looking for revenge after Villa's league win at the Bridge earlier in the season, manager Mauricio Pochettino's side come into this one with seven wins from the last eight outings at Stamford Bridge. They are also high on confidence after reaching the League Cup final with a 6-2 aggregate win over Championship side Middlesbrough this week. 

Villa are enjoying a brilliant league campaign, currently fourth on the league table, winning 13 and drawing four of their 21 league games so far. They are expected to provide Chelsea a stern test than Boro did on Tuesday night.