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Chelsea are up against 15th place Aston Villa on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge.

Blues boss Frank Lampard will be hoping to return to winning ways after the defeat to West Ham during the weekend, as the Hammers took all three points at the Bridge.

Lampard has hailed the work done by Dean Smith at Aston Villa and predicts that the Blues are facing a very difficult opponent.

“I think he’s stuck to his guns this season,” said Lampard about the Villa manager. “They invested heavily. On the one hand that gives them an opportunity in the Premier League, on the other hand, it would have been work to put that together quickly with new players.

“He’s done a good job of that. In some games, they might feel they haven’t got what they deserved.

“They’re a very difficult opponent, they have individual quality that can hurt you, they’ve got a way of dealing with players on and off the ball which is very organised and well drilled. It’s going to be a tough game on a lot of levels.”

Chelsea have failed to get a win in their last two league games, while Villa have lost 3 of their last five league matches.