They are owned by one of the world's richest men and are in the market for football's most expensive stars, but when it came to preparing for a potentially pivotal match yesterday, Chelsea were pleading poverty. Only 12 first-team players were deemed fit enough to train before Aston Villa's visit to Stamford Bridge tomorrow, with the injury situation so severe that several youth-team members were called in to make up the numbers.

Nicolas Anelka is the latest player to be struck by Chelsea's apparent jinx, but where some managers would be bemoaning their luck, Luiz Felipe Scolari was breathing defiance.

Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Didier Drogba and Deco are definitely out against Villa, with doubts over the fitness of John Terry, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Alex and Anelka, but Scolari claimed it would be “crazy” for Martin O'Neill's side, third in the Barclays Premier League, to think that they are in for a relatively easy afternoon against the leaders.

Villa can take heart from a five-match unbeaten league sequence against Chelsea since September 2005, but that pales into insignificance when set alongside their opponents' 85-match, 4-year unbeaten home league run. It is not a record that Chelsea will sacrifice lightly.

“Aston Villa are confident because they have been playing very well this season,” Scolari said. “They look at our team and we have Ricardo out, Didier out, maybe Terry out - maybe Anelka is out. They are more confident, but they would be crazy to think it is easy. I have players to win the game.

“Anelka did not train, but he will train tomorrow, I think. He has made ten goals this season and we need him to arrive at 12. He has a little muscular spasm problem.

“Many players did not train. Today I had only 15 players, with three players under 20. Michael Mancienne, Miroslav Stoch and Scott Sinclair all trained with the first team, along with Franco Di Santo. There will be some young players involved tomorrow, minimum on our bench.”

Scolari could be forgiven for cursing his luck, but his overriding emotion was relief that Drogba's latest knee injury should not keep him out for more than a month and the Brazilian revealed that he had turned to prayer after the striker's latest setback, against CFR Cluj on Wednesday.

“I am religious because I prayed for this,” Scolari said. “And sometimes God helps me. I prayed for him because Didier is part of my family, all of these players are my family and I need all the best for these players. When I saw this, I asked my God to look out for this player because he's been trying to play for three months now, he worked hard to start a game and once again he's injured. I think He listened and gave to Didier one more chance to play next month.”

Of those players who are doubtful, Terry and Ashley Cole are the most likely to be passed fit, with Scolari saying that his captain would play on one leg if necessary. “JT wants to play in all the games, even in training,” he said. “Sometimes I need to tell him to stop because he wants to play and train even more. Some players when they have a problem act like little babies, but Terry needs to be told not to train, even with one leg.”