Chelsea look to bounce back from consecutive defeats as Thomas Tuchel’s Blues visit Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium.
Victory would see Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints climb to ninth whilst Chelsea will stay third no matter the result.
Team News
Armando Broja is unavailable for Southampton due to Premier League rules prohibiting on-loan players from facing their parent clubs.
Alex McCarthy (thigh) and Shane Long (ankle) are doubts but Lyanco (hamstring) is still ruled out.
Chelsea could welcome Callum Hudson-Odoi back after he missed their midweek Champions League defeat against Real Madrid, following a recurrence of his Achilles injury plus a fresh back injury.
Hakim Ziyech and Romelu Lukaku (both knocks) are doubts but Ben Chilwell remains absent with a knee injury.
Stat Attack
- Southampton have won just one of their last seven league meetings against Chelsea (W1, D3, L3).
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last eight visits to Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium (W6, D2).
- Mason Mount has scored in each of his last two away appearances for Chelsea against Southampton (W1, D1).
- Southampton have conceded six goals in six league matches at home in 2022, during which they also netted 11 goals.
- Kai Havertz has scored three goals in Chelsea’s last two away matches in the Premier League, with the German’s goals all coming after half-time.
Prediction
Despite enduring a frustratingly wasteful performance at Leeds last weekend, Southampton can take heart from getting a point to end their three-match losing run in all competitions but they will certainly need to be at their best especially from set pieces to potentially get anything here.
Chelsea meanwhile have conceded seven goals and scored just twice in two matches in the last week which is actually quite worrying, especially given how they had handled their off-pitch issues last month so for numerous errors to creep into their last two matches has to be a huge concern.
A result at St Mary’s is therefore imperative for Chelsea to lift morale ahead of their trip to Real Madrid in midweek, followed by a FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace next weekend so I really do hope that there is some sort of reaction here.
Southampton meanwhile know the pressure is off them but if they can tidy up their defending and take their chances whilst applying a strong aggressive press, they could certainly spring a surprise as several top teams have already found out this season.
Prediction: Southampton 1-1 Chelsea
Result: Southampton 0-6 Chelsea
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