Soccer
Morgan Rogers believes he is playing the best football of his career, as Aston Villa prepare to visit Chelsea for what should be a stern test of their Premier League title aspirations.
Villa have won each of their last 10 matches in all competitions and could now equal their all-time club record of 11 straight victories, set in both September 1897 and March 1914.
Unai Emery’s men are third in the table going into the festive schedule, only three points behind leaders Arsenal and one off Manchester City in second, and they have already beaten both of those sides this campaign.
Their sensational run has been thanks in no small part to the form of Rogers, who has now scored 21 goals across all competitions since the start of last season.
At the age of 23 years and 151 days (on Christmas Eve), he is the youngest player to net 20 times for a Premier League team in this period.
“I feel like I’m playing the best I’ve ever played,” Rogers told Villa’s website. “I’m the most confident but that’s also within the team.
“The team is the most confident it has been since I’ve been here. It’s no surprise individual performances rise when we’re doing well as a collective.
“We’re all confident in each other, the manager’s confident in us and we go out there and we feel like we’re going to win every game.”
But on Saturday, Rogers will come up against another of England’s best creative players, with Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca confirming Cole Palmer is finally ready to play a full game.
After spending over two months on the sidelines with groin and toe injuries, Palmer has featured in Chelsea’s last four Premier League matches but has not played the full 90 minutes in any of them.
“I think he is ready for 90 minutes. The progression for a player is 45, one hour, then 70,” Maresca told reporters on Wednesday.
“He already played one hour against Everton. He played more than 70 against Newcastle, so I think the progression is there.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chelsea – Enzo Fernandez
Fernandez has created more chances from open play (24) and made more passes breaking the opponent’s defensive line (17) than any other Chelsea player in the Premier League this season.
No Chelsea player has scored more than five Premier League goals this campaign (Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto), so they will hope the Argentina can create some openings for his team-mates.
Aston Villa – Morgan Rogers
Rogers has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than any other English player across the opening 17 matchdays of this season (10 – seven goals, three assists).
He could become only the third Villa player to net two or more goals in three consecutive appearances in the competition, too, after Dean Saunders (1992) and Dion Dublin (1998).
MATCH PREDICTION – CHELSEA WIN
Aston Villa have won their last seven league games, last having a longer run as a top-flight side between October and December 1910 (nine consecutive victories).
The Villans have also won 12 of their 21 Premier League away games against London sides under Emery (D4 L5), more wins than they managed in their previous 59 (W11 D10 L38).
And they have won three of their five Premier League games against Chelsea under Emery (D1 L1), as many as in their previous 20 against the Blues before he arrived (D3 L14).
But Chelsea tend to turn up in the biggest games and have home advantage on their side.
Back home for the visit of Villa in the #PL. pic.twitter.com/NnTEAZNDN0
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 24, 2025
Chelsea are unbeaten in the three Premier League games they have played this season against teams starting the day above them in the table, beating Liverpool 2-1 and Tottenham 1-0, and drawing 1-1 with Arsenal.
But should Chelsea lose here, they will have lost more home league matches this season (three) than they did in Maresca’s first full campaign in 2024-25 (W12 D5 L2).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Chelsea – 42.7%
Aston Villa – 30.6%
Draw – 26.7%
Read MoreSoccerNews