Chelsea – Southampton Preview

Chelsea goes head to head with Southampton at the Stamford Bridge in a match from the 27th round of the English Premier League. Stay with us because we will give you our Accurate football predictions today for this fixture in the capital. Let’s get to work!

 

We can say that Chelsea are in their worst form since the beginning of the season. The Blues suffered four defeats in their last five matches in all competitions. What’s worrying is that three of these losses were conceded in the Premier League. This really hurts the Blues’ ambition to reach Top 4. At this moment Maresca’s team is 6th in the standings with 43 points. And their position would have been much better if they didn’t allow themselves such a dip in the form.

 

Last weekend the Blues conceded their 7th Premier League loss for the season. Chelsea had a tough visit to Aston Villa at the Villa Park and opened the score, but at the end Villa got the best of them – 2-1. The Argentine international Enzo Fernandez scored an early opener, thanks to an assist from Pedro Neto, but Villa’s new signing Marco Asensio hit Chelsea with a brace after the halftime break.

 

Now Maresca has to continue with his analysis what constantly goes wrong for Chelsea. One of his major problems is the absence of his main striker Nicolas Jackson. Against Aston Villa he put Pedro Neto on the top of the attack, but it was obvious that it was not his natural position. Now another option for Maresca is to use Christopher Nkunku as the main striker, but we all know what’s the problem here – Nkunku is a shadow of himself compared to his time at RB Leipzig in Germany.

 

Cole Palmer is one of the players who need to step up for Chelsea in such a tough moment. The English star made a huge miss against Aston Villa, when he didn’t score from a good position. Palmer has 14 league goals since the beginning of the season, but lately he’s not on the usual level.

 

Enzo Maresca took some interesting decisions against Aston Villa. For example, he picked Reece James and put him in midfield, alongside Moises Caicedo. This allowed him to bring Enzo Fernandez upper on the pitch. But now the Italian coach has another problem – Trevoh Chalobah left the pitch injured after just 8 minutes of playing in Birmingham. It’s still not clear if the defender would be ready to play against Southampton.

 

Hit by many injuries, Maresca could make another try with Jadon Sancho. The former English international had a strong start of his Chelsea career, but soon after that his performances dropped. Sancho played as a substitute against Aston Villa, but now his creativity could be useful against Southampton’s deep block at defense.

 

Southampton are already preparing themselves for life in the Championship next season. The Saints have won just 9 points since the beginning of the season. Even the change of managers didn’t help – the Croatian coach Ivan Juric didn’t bring a positive change to the team. It doesn’t look like Southampton could be saved anymore – they are just not in a position to fight.

In their last match the Saints hosted Brighton & Hove Albion and suffered a crushing 0-4 defeat at the St. Mary’s. With a xG of just 0.13, compared to Brighton’s 4.01, it’s pretty obvious that Juric’s team was not at the same level as the Seagulls.

 

The problems for the manager Ivan Juric continue to multiply. His Polish center-back Jan Bednarek injured himself after just 12 minutes on the pitch against Brighton. It means that most likely Armel Bella-Kotchap will replace him in the line-up, just like he did on Saturday.

 

Ivan Juric is desperate to help Southampton, but the truth is he has many injured players, too. The manager can’t use the experience of players such as Adam Lallana and Ryan Fraser while Taylor Harwood-Bellis is also not available for the Saints.

 

What could Juric change for the next game against Chelsea? The Japanese international Yukinari Sugawara could be an option for strengthening the defense while William Smallbone and Paul Ebere Onuachu could bring something different to the line-up. Both of them started from the bench against Brighton.

 

That’s the Accurate football predictions today for the Premier League clash between Chelsea and Southampton at the Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. The Blues are obligated to win here – they are facing the weakest team in the league and they are doing it at home. For Enzo Maresca’s team it would be a major upset if they can’t beat Southampton. As for the Saints, it seems that nothing can help them anymore – they will play in the Championship next season. Southampton are just not up to the challenge in the Premier League this season. And that’s sad for the club’s fans.