Chelsea travel to relegation-threatened Southampton on Saturday for the lunchtime kick-off. The Saints are in a terrible run of form, having lost their last three games and no wins in six. Antonio Conte’s Chelsea team aren’t doing much better, with three defeats in their last six and a disappointing draw against rivals West Ham last time out. These two teams will meet at Wembley next weekend in an FA Cup semi-final.
Conte’s Chelsea team were dominant in the first half against West Ham last weekend, but failed to capitalise on Cesar Azpilicueta’s opener on the 36th minute. In their way stood a determined Joe Hart, who produced two outstanding saves in the final ten minutes to deny Marcos Alonso and Olivier Giroud. However, it was their second defensive error in two weeks which cost them the game as Gary Cahill’s poor header was fed through to Javier Hernandez who equalised with 20 minutes to go. Failure to beat the Hammers saw Chelsea fall 10 points behind Spurs in the race for fourth place and Champions League football next season, while there was renewed speculation regarding Conte’s future.
Southampton are struggling as it stands and are still yet to pick up any league points since Mark Hughes replaced Manuel Pellegrino almost a month ago. Hughes’ side lost 3-2 away at Arsenal last weekend, the second consecutive game where they’ve conceded three goals and their task is unlikely to get any easier this weekend. They’re currently sat 18th in the league, three points from safety and with just six games remaining, it’s a worrying time on the south coast.
Southampton vs. Chelsea Predictions
It’s hard to make a case for Southampton to get anything out of this game. They’ve looked poor recently and they made their managerial change far too late. Chelsea aren’t pulling up any trees at the moment, but they’ll have enough to
Southampton vs. Chelsea Betting Tips
Head to Head
- Saints have only won one of their nine Premier League games against Chelsea at St. Mary’s Stadium (D2 L6), winning 2-1 in March 2013 thanks to goals from Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert.
- Only Manchester United (10) have won more away games at St. Mary’s Stadium in all competitions than Chelsea (7).
- The Blues have won their last four league games against Southampton. They’ve never won five in a row against them.
- Since the start of 2016/17, Southampton have failed to win any of their 22 Premier League matches against sides starting the day in the top six (D8 L14).
- Chelsea have won only one of their last four Premier League games in which they’ve scored first (D1 L2). Prior to this, they’d won 22 games consecutively when scoring first.
- Similarly, Southampton have now failed to win any of their last six Premier League games when scoring first (D4 L2), losing last time out away at Arsenal despite taking the lead.
- Mark Hughes has lost his last four games against Chelsea as manager (all with Stoke), with his sides conceding 15 goals in that run.
- However, Hughes could become the third manager to beat Chelsea in the Premier League with four different clubs (after Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce), having previously beaten them with Blackburn, Man City and Stoke.
- Cesar Azpilicueta and Alvaro Morata have now combined for seven Premier League goals this season. In only one previous season have two Chelsea players combined for more (Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba in 2005/06, 8).
- Charlie Austin has scored four goals in his last four Premier League appearances at St. Mary’s, however he hasn’t played there since December.
Southampton Team News
Jack Stephens is serving a suspension are being sent off after a collision with Jack Wilshere last weekend. Mario Lemina is also a doubt, but is likely to recover from illness to take the field on Saturday. Shane Long, Steven David and Sam McQueen are all injured and will definitely miss out.
Chelsea Team News
Ethan Ampadu and David Luiz are both out with ankle injuries, while Davide Zappacosta has a muscle problem. Ross Barkley is unlikely to feature.
