There is the chance of a first for José Mourinho when we travel to Villa Park on Sunday. Club historian Rick Glanvill and statistician Paul Dutton explain.
Rick attempts a spot of sequence analysis.
Normal service has resumed? Chelsea are top of the tree for the first time since just before five o'clock on Saturday 30 September 2006.
We'd just dropped our first home points of the season to the team we play this Sunday. Even though Didier Drogba grabbed his eighth goal of the season that afternoon, Chelsea had almost 20 shots on goal and Sorenson guarded his goal like a demon, Villa were good value for the 1-1. Stiliyan Petrov appeared to be settling in nicely, Liam Ridgewell looked England senior material, and Milan Baros and Juan Pablo Angel prowled dangerously.
Those were the early days of the Martin O'Neill/Randy Lerner era. The O'Neill bubble punctured last winter and the manager - always cautious in his optimism - has changed a lot he didn't like in the 11 months since that draw at the Bridge. Gone are Ridgewell, Baros and Angel, plus Jlloyd Samuel, Gavin McCann and others.
The first few games suggested more was needed. You'd be hard-pushed to find a Holte Ender with nice things to say about Petrov. Likewise the error-prone central defender Martin Laursen.
Villa fans were hoping for a cash-splashing exercise before the August 31 deadline to re-spark the post-Doug Ellis period, and Lerner has dug deep to create a new spine in goalie Scott Carson, Nigel Reo-Coker, centre midfield, and Marlon Harewood, centre-forward.
This week he lured Zat Knight from Fulham (presumably impressed by his keenness to score for Villa last weekend while still with the London club) and is close to recruiting Curtis Davies from West Bromwich Albion - ideal young replacements for Laursen and competition for Olof Mellberg.
That's not to mention his purchases in the January sales, Ashley Young (looking livelier on the wing recently) and John Carew, both of whom still have something to prove.
There is, though, a considerable investment in youth going in Aston, and if you add the impressive Scots forward Shaun Maloney - around whom there is currently a buzz - and the already recognised athleticism and skill of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Luke Moore, you have a side lacking experience but fearing nothing and capable of accepting the O'Neill tactics implant.
After Chelsea's fine start, maybe there will be better times to play the tails-up Villans than straight after a rousing 2-1 comeback last weekend and a midweek 5-0 win - easily their biggest win since an 8-3 at the same stage of the Carling Cup over Wycombe in 2005. But surely it is good to encounter the hard-working Villa Park pitch so early in the season.
It has traditionally been one of the host venues for FA Cup semi-finals - an honour relinquished with the completion of Wembley Stadium. Over almost 90 years Chelsea's success in semi-finals there was evenly split.
We reached our debut FA Cup final by beating Everton 2-0 in 1915, beat Leeds in 1967 and saw off Fulham in 2002. But the Villa Park surface ended our Wembley dream in 1996 when Ruud and co. faced Manchester Utd, and more poignantly (if possible), we lost twice in successive years, 1965 and '66, against Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday, both 0-2.
Our last visit there, on January 2 in the Premier League, was as viscerally disappointing as any of those cup losses. Weary Chelsea started the game and went downhill from there, making McCann look a world-beater. One or two great chances were squandered in the first half, but after the break Villa looked the more likely to score. A third consecutive draw left Manchester Utd six points clear at the top.
It is actually been eight years since we won at this venue: 1999 and Luca Vialli's team of Flo, Zola et al. Oddly, since the start of the Premier League, results there between us have largely gone in streaks (see below).
The March 1999 game brought our fourth win a row. It was followed by three consecutive draws, then two Villa wins on the trot, and finally another three stalemates. (I don't know what it all means either, but perhaps Da Vinci Code enthusiasts out there could crack the sequence and let me know before the bookmaker opens this weekend.)
Unlike December last year, it's United who trail now, even if they will almost certainly reduce the deficit to two points on Saturday, the day before we play. Liverpool and Arsenal could also join us on ten before kick-off. We currently have the most points, the highest goals-for total and the equal best goal difference.
It's surely time to press the pedal to the floor and see where it takes us - as long as it's not a traffic jam on the M6.
ASTON VILLA V CHELSEA - Paul Dutton has the statistical state of play.
Chelsea sit top of the Premier League for the first time at the end of a weekend's fixtures since our 2-0 victory at Craven Cottage against Fulham on September 23rd last year.
Villa Park is the only Premier League ground that José Mourinho has visited and failed to come away with a win since his arrival in 2004.
Chelsea have gone eight years and nine games without a win against Villa away on one of our least successful hunting grounds.
Our last victory there was in March 1999 when second half goals from Tore André Flo, Bjarne Goldbæk and Flo again completed an easy win and inflicted Villa's fourth successive defeat under John Gregory. The team was De Goey; Ferrer, Desailly, Leboeuf, Le Saux; Petrescu (Lambourde 78), Wise, Morris, Goldbaek; Zola, Flo (Nicholls 90). Luca Vialli was our manager.
Since then we have drawn six and lost two in the Premier League as well as a 2-1 fifth round League Cup defeat in 2003/04.
Our Premier League record at Villa Park is as follows:
1992/93 Chelsea won 3-1
1993/94 Villa won 1-0
1994/95 Villa won 3-0
1995/96 Chelsea won 1-0
1996/97 Chelsea won 2-0
1997/98 Chelsea won 2-0
1998/99 Chelsea won 3-0
1999/00 Drew 0-0
2000/01 Drew 1-1
2001/02 Drew 1-1
2002/03 Villa won 2-1
2003/04 Villa won 3-2
2004/05 Drew 0-0
2005/06 Drew 1-1
2006/07 Drew 0-0
Villa have won only four of their last 15 home Premier League games stretching back nine months.
They have avoided defeat in 11 of the last 12 league outings.
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