IS WISE SINNER OR VICTIM?.

Dennis Wise is facing a five match ban following his appearance at a FA disciplinary court today.

The Chelsea captain - who has had 13 yellow cards against him this season - also faces a hefty fine. A three match compulsory ban is the best the midfielder can hope for.

In mitigation Chelsea willsubmit a remarkable set of statistics that suggest that Wise has been sinned against as much as he has been the sinner.

Figures produced by a club official will show that there have been more yellow-card challenges on Wise than he has racked up so far this season.

The argument is that Wise is being singled out by opposing teams as the man to antagonise.

The ban will not affect him appearing in the Coca Cola Cup or European Cup Winners' Cup matches. #

This is surely a good thing for the Blues, given his key role in the side's past successes.

His absence may have had something to do with Chelsea's defeat at the hands of a fast improving Aston Villa side.

The decline in Chelsea's league form is worrying, and they have lost their last three Premiership games.

Gianluca Vialli is still looking for his first Premiership win as player-manager.

By contrast, Villa's new manager John Gregory has now enjoyed two wins out of two since he took over from Brian Little.

Both sides had played in Europe midweek, although Villa had clearly benefited from having two days longer to recuperate.

Chelsea looked lethargic as Villa made the running and the majority of the chances.

Villa continued to dominate the match in the second half and got their reward after 51 minutes. Julian Joachim, dep-utising for Stan Collymore, latched on to a Lee Hendrie pass which found him unmarked, and he beat Ed de Goey easily.

Villa had a succession of chances that fell to Dwight Yorke and Joachim. In truth, the England U21 could have had a hat trick.

Chelsea's two goal European hero Tore Andre Flo set up Vialli to Chelsea's best chance, but he fired narrowly wide.

In the end the solitary goal was enough for Villa to take three points.

Chelsea missed a resting Dennis Wise, and Dan Petrescu and Mark Hughes, who featured against Real Betis.

Last night Chelsea were hoping to put the poor result behind them against relegation strugglers Crystal Palace.

Make sure you visit the our sister on-line paper the Comet tomorrow for a full report of the game by Paul Lagan, as well as the latest Blues news.

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