Eto`o to lead Chelsea`s title charge

London: Samuel Eto`o is expected to be handed responsibility for spearheading Chelsea`s Premier League title challenge when the leaders travel to struggling Aston Villa on Saturday.

Eto`o inspired the Blues` rout of Tottenham last weekend after being drafted into the starting line-up at the last minute when Fernando Torres pulled up with a groin injury in the warm up. Torres is hoping to return for the second leg of the Champions League clash with Galatasaray at Stamford Bridge next week. But in the meantime, Cameroon forward Eto`o, who turned 33 this week, should get another chance to demonstrate his continuing importance to Jose Mourinho`s squad six days after he celebrated his goal against Spurs with a celebration poking fun at recent comments from the Blues boss about his age. Eto`o`s performance will be crucial as Chelsea aim to capitalise on their free week by maintaining their seven-point advantage over second placed Liverpool and third placed Arsenal. While Mourinho`s players have enjoyed a six-day rest between games, Arsenal and Manchester City -- currently fourth, nine points off top but with three games in hand -- have both suffered the draining experience of exiting the Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich and Barcelona respectively. With the title race approaching its climax, the demands on all the competing squads will grow more intense and Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech believes his club`s strength in depth could prove vital. Demba Ba has been little more than a fringe player this season, but the former Newcastle striker scored twice after replacing Eto`o as a late substitute against Spurs to provide a reminder of his goal threat. "You need everybody because you never know what can happen," Cech said. "Two seasons ago when we played the Champions League final, we suddenly had all our central defenders injured and one banned and needed everybody to fill in and play. "It`s credit to the guys like Demba who aren`t playing much because you can see that anything might happen and we need everyone in the team to be ready. "Samuel came in just before the kick-off for Fernando and then Demba came on with 15 minutes to go and they both did really well." Meanwhile, Gabby Agbonlahor admits the fear of relegation is spurring on Villa as they bid to avoid a repeat of last season`s fight for survival going to the wire. Paul Lambert`s side failed to secure their top-flight status until May a year ago, however sit 11th, six points clear of trouble, this time out. "We`re on 31 points, not 40, so the fear is definitely still there," Agbonlahor said. "You never know in football. We have to keep on getting the results as early as possible and not leave it late. "We want to pull away a bit more and try to get to that 40-point mark as quickly as we can. "We have to be on top of our performance to get anything against Chelsea. We`re looking forward to it because they are the games players want to play in. "We have had our ups and downs this season but it`s important we take the ups from beating Norwich 4-1 in our last match into this one. We`ve seen what we can do when we play at home at a high tempo." Lambert will be forced into one change with left-back Ryan Bertrand ineligible to face his parent club. Antonio Luna, Ciaran Clark and Joe Bennett are in contention to deputise.