Villa are rated as the form team in the Premier League.
But Emery reasons: “We respect a lot the difficulties of the Premier League and of playing against Chelsea. They are favourites to be in the top four and favourites to fight for the Premier League trophy because they have very good players, a very good coach and they are getting better.
“They’re the champions of the Club World Cup, and it means a lot. Now they are behind us, but they’re feeling strong and playing with confidence. They’re competing very well against the better teams.
“They beat Liverpool at home, they competed fantastically against Arsenal, drawing, and they beat Barcelona as well in the Champions League, and the last match at home against Everton.
“They are feeling strong at home. How we are feeling now is very important with our momentum. Tomorrow is a very huge test for us. It’s a huge test at Chelsea, a huge test away, a huge test of how we are going to respond away against one team like Chelsea.
“We are very motivated and excited about how we are going to face them tomorrow. We are focussing this match strongly to try and get our best.”
2025 a fantastic year
Asked how he sees Villa's progress in 2025, Emery was positive.
He said, “In the process we have, being demanding and being consistent, my analysis depends on each moment. The season we did in the Champions League and getting to the quarter-finals was fantastic.
“In the league as well, how we again got sixth position was fantastic. My idea is try to improve everything and get new challenges, collectively and individually with the players.
“How we can create and build here a strong structure in our mentality, with the players, tactically and individually, trying to improve them and get their individual challenges, helping us as a team.
“We want to create and build emotions with our supporters, enjoy different moments. We want to enjoy how we shared with them a semi-final of the FA Cup last year, a quarter-final of the Champions League, two years ago a semi-final of the Conference League.
“They are moments that can help us to connect with our supporters and feel something together and have experiences like we did.”