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Aston Villa's jam-packed December fixture list and how rivals compare in top four race
Aston Villa begin their venture into the Christmas period this Sunday with December set to be an intense month of Premier League and Champions League action.
The games are coming thick and fast, the month including eight in all, with almost all of the fixtures arriving every three or four days.
After finishing fourth last season and securing Champions League qualification in the process, the Villans are going to experience the full effect of elite European football coupled with domestic action during the winter period.
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The run begins on Sunday as Unai Emery's side travel to Stamford Bridge to take on an ever-impressive Chelsea side, before facing Brentford on Wednesday and Southampton the following Saturday, both at Villa Park, making it three games in less than a week.
Villa's clash with Chelsea is huge as both teams will have similar aims of finishing in the top four this season and, with Emery's men without a win in seven games in all competitions, it is a big opportunity to pick up a statement win away from home to turn their recent fortunes around.
The Blues are worth keeping an eye on this month as they play nine times including a London derby against another of Villa's top four rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The Lions' following games against Brentford and Saints will be seen as must-win if Villa are to compete right at the top of the table again this campaign and they will have the advantage of the faithful Villa Park crowd on their side for both match-ups.
After the arguably kinder games against those two teams, the Villans then face an extremely tough run into the new year. A final European game of the calendar year awaits on Tuesday, December 10 against German elites RB Leipzig, before a trip to high-flying Nottingham Forest the Saturday after. They will be two tough games that will Emery's side will need to quickly and effectively prepare for back-to-back.
A midweek game against champions Manchester City then arrives after a valuable week-long break in which Villa will be hoping to repeat their performance against the Citizens from around the same time last year. The Claret and Blues played Pep Guardiola's side off the park at home on December 6 last season in a 1-0 victory, Leon Bailey bagging the only goal of the game. It was one of the best performances from a Villa team in recent memory, and so the players will surely be looking back at that display for inspiration.
The following game is a tough Boxing Day battle away at Newcastle United, a team who have been compared to Villa recently due to their similar upwards trajectory. The Magpies have had mixed fortunes so far this campaign but sit just two places and a point below the West Midlands giants in 10th.
December's final fixture will come on the penultimate day of the month where Emery's men will come up against Fabian Hürzeler's Brighton and Hove Albion. The Villa boss will face the youngest manager in the league in 31-year-old Hürzeler who has the Seagulls in fifth and well within the race for top four. Brighton's fixture list for December is a lot kinder than the Lions' on paper, so Villa will be hungry to halt their top half competitors in their tracks.
