34 mins: Chance! 

Much better from Villa and as El Ghazi bends a fine ball into the middle McGinn has got across the front of Rudiger but doesn’t get enough on his header and it drifts wide of the far post. 

33 mins: Kepa’s been a spectator so far but he’s called into action for the first time as David cushions nicely to El Ghazi and the winger arrows a decent effort towards the bottom corner. Comfortable save, though. 

32 mins: Dean Smith and John Terry were both very animated during that water break, which has very quickly turned into an NBA-style timeout for managers, but it’s done little to change the pattern of the game.

Kovacic has a pop with a bit of a scuffed effort that takes a little nick off Douglas Luiz and almost embarrasses Nyland as he spills it back towards his own goal before clawing it in at the second attempt. 

28 mins: Twice in a couple of minutes Marcos Alonso wastes a decent crossing opportunity, first after a cracking cross-field ball from Christensen and then when played in by Loftus-Cheek.

On a completely unrelated point, that Ben Chilwell goal was good yesterday, wasn’t it? 

24 mins: Halfway through the first half, so we’ll have our first water break of the day. We can understand why we need them, but this first one in particular seems to disrupt the rhythm of the game just as it’s getting going. 

20 mins: Strike. Mason Mount shifts the ball onto his left foot and lets fly from 25 yards, forcing Orjan Nyland into his first save of the afternoon, a strong one-handed palm away. 

19 mins: Willian’s looked as sharp as anyone in these early exchanges, playing a couple of nice first-time passes in combination with Azpilicueta. 

The form and attitude of players whose futures are uncertain is bound to be one of the major talking points over the next few weeks, but the early signs are good for Frank Lampard here. 

16 mins: Keinan Davis impressed against Sheffield United in the week and he shows good strength here to hold the ball up with two men trying to shake him off, before back-heeling to McGinn, who wins the free-kick. 

13 mins: A little better from the hosts as they work it down the left and Kovacic is so desperate to prevent the corner that he ends up gifting it to El Ghazi in a decent crossing position but the referee says the Villa man pushed the Croatian and it’s a Chelsea free-kick. 

9 mins: Since that free-kick in the first minute, Aston Villa have barely touched the ball in the Chelsea half, which is why I’m sure Dean Smith will have been furious with the way it was wasted. 

Chelsea enjoying all the early pressure, though they haven’t tested Nyland yet. 

5 mins: That means Ruben Loftus-Cheek has started in a more advance position, playing to left of Giroud though by no means out wide.

He’s the man in the middle that Azpilicueta picks out after a lovely ball round the corner from Willian but he can only head wide. 

2 mins: Villa immediately earn a free-kick about 30 yards out but Jack Grealish and Conor Hourihane try a little training ground routine that no one else seems to know about because when the latter eventually clips into the box there’s no one in claret attacking it and Kept claims unopposed. 

Right then, the teams are on their way out – separately of course – so we’re almost ready to get going.

Before kick-off there will be a moment of silence to remember those lost during the Covid-19 pandemic and to honour key workers. 

Players will also take the knee en masse in a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement before the game gets underway.

Here’s Chelsea boss Frank Lampard, speaking to Sky Sports before kick-off…

On Loftus-Cheek’s inclusion – “He has trained brilliantly. It’s been a long injury for him. He was just getting fit before lockdown but needed games an this period has given us a chance to get him working hard.”

On starting with Olivier Giroud over Tammy Abraham – “Oli finished really well before the break. He had a couple of small injuries at the start of this training period but it was just a choice today. It’s very important to let players know that this is more than ever a squad game over this next period.”