What can stop Chelsea now?
A Carabao Cup semi-final against Aston Villa offers Chelsea a chance to continue a remarkable run, but injuries and a resolute opponent could make this more than a formality.
What can stop a side unbeaten in 21 league games, with a 41-year grip on the title and a trophy cabinet that groans under the weight of 247 major honours? Perhaps only the fates, or a Villa Park crowd desperate for a first win over Chelsea in three attempts.
Aston Villa host Chelsea on 15 January in the Carabao Cup semi-final, a tie that pits the Premier Division's relentless champions against a club still searching for a way past their blue-shirted nemesis. The last three meetings have all gone Chelsea's way: 2-0 at Villa Park in October, 2-0 again in May, and a 1-0 in April. Villa have not so much as scored against Chelsea in those games.
The home side will have to cope without Rui Filipe, Miguel Ángel Perea and Adelir Pozzi, all ruled out through injury. Chelsea, meanwhile, are missing Jairzinho and Thomas Verlhac. For Villa, the absences only deepen the challenge of toppling a side that has made winning a habit.
Yet this is a semi-final, a single match where anything can happen. Villa Park will be loud, the home fans sensing that their team's best chance may lie in Chelsea's rare moments of vulnerability. The Blues' away run at stake is not just their league form but their aura of invincibility.
Jassem Abdulla, now at Chelsea, spent two seasons at Villa from 2059 to 2061, making 42 appearances and scoring once. He knows the ground, the crowd, and the weight of expectation that will greet his former club. If he plays, it will be a reunion laced with meaning.
Chelsea's Carabao Cup history is formidable: 34 titles, the last in 2060/61, with runs of dominance that stretch across decades. Villa's own cabinet holds 31 major trophies, but recent meetings suggest a gulf that only a stirring performance can bridge.
The question is not whether Chelsea can win—they have made winning their default setting—but whether Villa can find a way to make this a contest. In the cauldron of a cup semi-final, with a place at Wembley at stake, the answer may come from the most unexpected of places.