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2023/24 English Premier League
Matchday 18
Aston Villa v Sheffield United
Villa Park
Birmingham, England
Friday, 22 December 2023
Kick-off is at 22h00
Aston Villa will be hoping to maintain their surprise title challenge when they welcome
Premier League strugglers Sheffield United to Villa Park on Friday, December 22.
Nearing the midway point of the season, the Villans have emerged as contenders to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race after winning 12 of their opening 17 matches.
A 2-1 victory over Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on December 17 extended their unbeaten run in the league to six games as Unai Emery's side went level with the Reds (2nd) on 38 points to remain a point behind the table-topping Gunners in third place.
Manchester City lost more ground on the frontrunners after being held to a 2-2 draw by Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium which left them five points off the summit in fourth position following Arsenal's 2-1 win against Brighton at the Emirates Stadium.
Image copyright: Getty Images
The Blades are still rooted to the foot of the table as they lost for the first time under Chris Wilder in a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on December 16.
The bottom-three clubs remain unmoved after Burnley (19th) went down 2-0 to Everton at Turf Moor, while Luton's clash with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium was suspended after Tom Lockyer collapsed on the pitch.
Ollie Watkins has been superb for Villa again this term and is just one goal shy of hitting double figures for the fourth season in a row. The striker headed home the winner against the Bees to make it nine goals in 17 appearances and has now found the back of the net four times in his last six outings.
Cameron Archer will come up against his former employers, having only joined the newly-promoted Blades from Villa in August. The Jamaican striker has scored just twice in 14 games for Sheffield United, but looked threatening against Chelsea and curled a shot just wide of the right post in the first half before lashing an effort wide of the near post from an angle on the left in the closing stages.
Emery has urged his team to "keep going" after their latest win and insists the challenge lies in maintaining their consistency throughout the campaign.
"Let's keep going," the Spaniard said. "Even when we lost in Nottingham Forest we were trying to send the same message: keep going, move on.
"Today we won and we're happy we completed the match winning those three points. We are moving on because on Friday we will face Sheffield at home and it's a new challenge.
"We have to try to keep consistent across 38 matches. We are in day 17 with two matches before we complete the first half of the season. We have to be consistent."
Wilder felt naivety crept in against Chelsea after a good performance from his players in the first half, although he believes they will learn with more experience.
"A mad 15 minutes at [the] start of second half cost us when naivety shone through and that happens with young players, we were in a good place up to half-time, the shape of the team was good and I sensed a feeling around the ground there was something in it for us," he said.
"But it was naive of us to then open the game up - not being over critical of the players, I told them this in the dressing room - as the players decided themselves to chase the game and make it big in the first 15 minutes after half-time, which Chelsea wanted and they started to turn us and get forward runners and that left us in a bad place.
"The second goal is a mistake and then it becomes a difficult afternoon. The first half we were okay, we got the balance right, but it is fine lines, the players are learning on the job, it is a young group in terms of age and experience."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Aston Villa - 2
Sheffield U - 2
Draws - 1
Premier League Matchday 18 fixtures:
Thursday, December 21
22h00: Crystal Palace v Brighton & Hove Albion
Friday, December 22
22h00: Aston Villa v Sheffield United
Saturday, December 23
14h30: West Ham United v Manchester United
17h00: Fulham v Burnley
17h00: Luton Town v Newcastle United
17h00: Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth
17h00: Tottenham Hotspur v Everton
19h30: Liverpool v Arsenal
Sunday, December 24
15h00: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea
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