Cucurella does well to whip the ball away from Philogene with Chelsea all in advanced areas after a set-piece. He exchanges passes with Sancho and plays a low ball into the middle, which takes a nick off a defender. Jackson tucks in a tidy finish off the near post. And that is 1-0.

Goal! 7 min: Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa (Jackson)

6 min: Morgan Rogers tries to make a break in midfield, down the middle, and appears to be fouled from behind. But the referee lets play continue and Chelsea can clear.

Bill Leslie and Alan Smith are back with us on comms. Sancho cuts in from the Chelsea left and links with Palmer. A quiet start so far overall though.

This is interesting: Chelsea are showing no interest in pressing from the front early doors.

David Jones has been pressed into service as lead commentator. This is big.

Sky Sports have got some audio problems so the presenter and pundits are commentating for the moment.

I had some team news problems and said Bailey was starting for Villa which was wrong. Apologies.

First half kick off!

Maresca has made 10 changes from the midweek win at Heidenheim. Jadon Sancho is the player to keep his place in the lineup.

How big is three points against Aston Villa, Enzo Maresca is asked. (I live for this stuff.)

“It’s a big game,” Maresca says. “It will be a tough game, the same as the rest. We are not focused on the top four. We are just focused on the game.”

Is it a formation change? “It could be. We’ll see.”

Great, thanks for that. And why is he starting with Jadon Sancho?

“Jadon Sancho is doing well … he was very good in the Conference League. I said many times. He’s very important for us, and hopefully he can help us.”

Second comment on this: “What a team. I love football hehe.”

Don’t we all mate.

The live game on a well-known sports broadcaster is Chelsea v Aston Villa. I must say that after Tottenham v Roma on Thursday, the most entertaining game I’ve seen in ages, I’d rather watch Spurs v Fulham.

But as a wise person once said: “It is what it is.”

I could have sworn Micah Richards just called his fellow pundit Daniel Sturridge “Dave”. It was all getting a bit heated in the studio there for a second.

Tottenham v Fulham teams

Manchester United v Everton teams

Chelsea v Aston Villa teams

Preamble