Perhaps the fact that Chelsea will be without Alex, Benayoun, Drogba and Lampard helped, but Carlo Ancelotti has played his hand and told us who will be starting at Villa Park tomorrow:-

“The line-up will be Cech, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry and Cole, Ramires, Essien and Mikel, strikers Kakuta, Malouda and Anelka.”

Still a decent side of course and I’m not going to get carried away by the lack of Drogba, he watched from the bench at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea did OK as I recall. Anelka is currently Chelsea’s leading scorer with seven, two in the league. Drogba and Malouda have six a piece, all scored in the league.

Interesting to see how Ramires, Chelsea’s only real summer signing, gets on as he still seems to be settling in after his move from Benfica. (He was on the bench when we played Benfica during pre-season). And young Kakuta gets his first league start of the season.

Clearly a big central midfield battle lies ahead. Ramires, Essien and Mikel are all the sort of players to sit in the middle, acting as central hubs, distributing the ball, although Essien and Mikel are not shy in joining the attack.

The key man at The Bridge though, for me, was Malouda and Luke Young had an absolute nightmare with him. Hopefully he’ll appreciate the opportunity for atonement, but will need plenty of help from Albrighton, assuming he starts, with Ashley Cole on that side too.

I know this has been a theme of mine for a while, but this is definitely a game where I’d save Albrighton for later if it were up to me. Ashley Young would be a far safer option on that side, defensively, but this really looks like a game that Houllier should be looking to add some muscle into the middle.

Maybe this is the game to finally start the central trio of Petrov, Reo-Coker and Ireland. Ash and Downing out wide, either Carew or Heskey up top. (Gabby is still out, Heskey faces a late fitness test).

The major selection headache for Houllier remains at the back with Cuellar, Collins and Dunne all fighting for the two centre half spots. A good headache to have.

Personally, I still don’t think Richard is fully fit and I while I appreciate the organisation and leadership skills he brings, I’d prefer the mobility of the Cuellar/Collins partnership for this one. We’ll see, it’s something everyone has an opinion on, but it’s good to actually have real options.

Loan News

Speaking of centre halves, Curtis Davies has gone over to join Sven at Leicester on loan for a month and young striker James Collins has gone to Burton for a month.

Villa Starting XI: Friedel, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Beye, Petrov, Reo-Coker, A Young, Downing, Ireland, Carew.

Subs: Cuellar, Bannan, Sidwell, Guzan, Delfouneso, Clark, Salifou, Lichaj.