Evening Standard
·4. Dezember 2024
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·4. Dezember 2024
The Blues head to the south coast confident of victory
Southampton vs Chelsea LIVE!
The Blues head to the south coast this evening looking to keep pace in the Premier League title race, despite Enzo Maresca claiming his team are not a contender. The manager marked six months in the job yesterday and has taken Chelsea to joint-second in the table, level on points, goal difference, goal scored and every other metric with Arsenal.
Chelsea may be ahead of schedule, with Maresca saying on Tuesday that the Bles “in the next five to 10 years will be one of the teams - or the team - that is going to dominate English football”. More immediately, they will be confident of heading back to London tonight with another three points as they take on the worst team in the league.
Southampton could scarcely be in poorer shape as they are without up to 11 players this evening. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Tyler Dibling and Flynn Downes are all suspended, while Lesley Ugochukwu cannot face his parent club. Third-choice goalkeeper Joe Lumley should play. Follow the game LIVE below with our dedicated match blog, featuring expert insight and analysis from Malik Ouzia at St Mary’s.
Live updates
1 minute ago
Enzo Maresca marked six months in the job yesterday, and spoke about his appointment in the summer and winning over the fans.
Having so far exceeded all expectations, the Italian says neither self-belief nor his inexperience were ever of serious concern.
“Doubt myself? For sure, no,” he said. “Eddie Howe, when he started. He had experience? No. Pep [Guardiola], when he started at Barcelona. Experience? No. Mikel [Arteta], when he started at Arsenal. Experience? No.
“We all are in the same situation. When you start, you don’t have experience. You cannot go to the supermarket and buy experience. So, you need time. But it’s not only for me, it’s for all of us in different jobs.
“In terms of doubting myself? No. When we finish some games and [the media] ask me: ‘Are you worried about this or that?’ I am always worried because I try always until the end to do the right things. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in what I do.”
15 minutes ago
Here’s our man is technicolour.
21 minutes ago
The photographer as St Mary’s has found his camera and found Palmer and Hasselbaink having a chat.
Getty Images
28 minutes ago
So it’s SEVEN changes for Chelsea.
Second-choice keeper Jorgensen gets a first Premier League start, and in front of him Gusto, Disasi, Tosin , Madueke, Joao Felix and Nkunku all also come in.
Southampton make four changes, which are all enforced. Bree, Wood and Aribo relace the suspended Dibling, Harwood-Bellis and Downes.
34 minutes ago
I was expecting a little bit of rotation from Chelsea tonight but definitely not that much.
It’s not as if Maresca’s first-team stars can be absolutely exhausted at this point - they’ve had most midweeks off all season.
35 minutes ago
Chelsea XI: Jorgensen, Gusto, Disasi, Adarabioyo, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernández, Madueke, Palmer, Felix, Nkunku
Subs: Sanchez, Badiashile, Colwill, Veiga, Dewsbury-Hall, Lavia, Neto, Jackson, Sancho
Southampton XI: Lumley, Walker-Peters, Bree, Stephens, Wood, Manning, Fraser, Aribo, Fernandes, Armstrong, Archer
Subs: McCarthy, Edwards, Sugawara, Taylor, Sulemana, Cornet, Amo-Ameyaw, O'Brien-Whitmarsh, Brereton Díaz
41 minutes ago
...and the hosts!
43 minutes ago
Plenty of changes!
50 minutes ago
Sounds like, yes, Maresca has made some changes.
1 hour ago
Team news to come in 15 minutes. Surely Enzo Maresca will be tempted to make changes, especially with Tottenham to come at the weekend.
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