Aston Villa v Chelsea: Steven Gerrard says ‘from our point of view game is 100%’ on

Chelsea’s Boxing Day clash against Aston Villa will be going ahead, according to rival manager Steven Gerrard.

The former Liverpool legend said: “Right now the game, from our point of view, is 100%.”

However he warned there could be further changes, with Covid-19 causing chaos across the Premier League’s festive fixtures.

There had been concerns that the Premier League match could be called off due to a Covid outbreak in the Villa squad.

However, Gerrard said that only one player had tested positive in the last few days, and he also had some players return after illness.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel will be desperate to get back to winning ways, after losing ground to title rivals Liverpool and Mancheter City with a draw at Wolves.

Tuchel will be hoping to have several stars back after suffering Covid, including Romelu Lukaku, for the West Midlands clash.

It is expected Chelsea will be fine to play, as they put out a side against Brentford in the League Cup on Wednesday.

What did Steven Gerrard say about the Chelsea match?

When asked if there was a 50% change of the game going ahead, Gerrard responded: “No, right now the game, from our point of view is 100 per cent.

“The rules of the Premier League is that if you have 13 fit and available players the game goes ahead, so as we stand, we’re looking forward to and preparing for the game.

“We’ll go ahead. What I am saying is, there’s still three or four days to go.

“Things are changing by the hour as we all know. Expect things to change.”

Gerrard said that only one Villa player had tested positive this week, and he had welcomed several back after recovering from the illness.

He told the media: “The Covid situation is changing on a daily basis, even in my world on an hourly basis.

“We’ve got mixed news on the Covid front, we have a few playing staff returning - we had one yesterday and one today returning.

“And a couple of staff members returning in the next 24 hours.

“I suppose that’s positive news.

“But we also had a false positive that had gone in our way in the last 24 hours.

“And we’ve also had a positive situation in the last two days as well.

“So it’s very mixed, it’s an ongoing situation, we’ve still got three rounds of testing to go before the game.

“Three lateral flows and a PCR test to come as well.

“If you’re asking for any team news and my thoughts on a team, you’re wasting your team, I don’t even know myself.”

Which players is Thomas Tuchel hoping to welcome back for the Aston Villa clash?

Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Kai Havertz and Andreas Christensen all tested positive for Covid-19.

However Tuchel said they have all recovered, and have been in training this week.

The Brentford match came too early for them, but they are all expected to return for the Aston Villa match.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek could also return following an ankle injury.

While the game will come too soon for Ben Chilwell, who could make a return in January after progressing well with ACL physio.

Ben Ramsdale is the football reporter for LondonWorld’s sister site BirminghamWorld, covering Aston Villa, Wolves, West Brom and Birmingham City. You can read more of his work here.