LONDON -- Guus Hiddink has suggested that Alexandre Pato will get a chance to impress for Chelsea in the final eight matches of the Premier League season.
Pato has yet to feature for the Blues since arriving on loan from Corinthians in "preseason" shape at the end of January, and his ongoing plight has even led to the creation of a joke website that calculates how long he has waited to make his Chelsea debut.
Diego Costa was Chelsea's undisputed first-choice striker until his suspension for getting sent off last month against Everton, while Hiddink has favoured Bertrand Traore, Loic Remy and youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek over Pato when making attacking substitutions in recent weeks.
But Hiddink says he may finally give the Brazilian his opportunity with Chelsea's last eight matches of the season offering no hope of silverware.
"Whether he will be actively involved [against Aston Villa] we'll see," Hiddink said of Pato. "We have now eight games coming up and there's not much to win to be honest, so while I don't give any player a guarantee there might be some time for experiments.
"He has worked very hard over the international break. When I started [in December] we had just Diego, and that was one of the reasons why Pato came in. But Traore has made fast progress and now there is more competition.
"I have tried to make a fair judgement on the others who are also knocking on the door. But we have eight games to go and there might be some options [for Pato to play]."
Hiddink's preparations to face Villa have been disrupted by international commitments. Willian, Oscar and Traore arrived back at Cobham on Friday morning after competitive matches with Brazil and Burkina Faso respectively and will be assessed ahead of the trip to Villa Park.
Eden Hazard, meanwhile, will not travel with the squad as he continues his recovery from a lingering hip injury.
"He is on the pitch but with the physios, outside the group," Hiddink added.
Costa serves the second match of his suspension against Villa and will miss a third after he was found guilty of misconduct by the Football Association in the wake of his red card against Everton.
The Spain international was omitted from Vicente Del Bosque's latest squad but Hiddink insists his striker is in good physical shape.
"Costa has trained very well over the past week," Hiddink said. "He's been very ambitious in training and he enjoyed working, so he's not injured."