Southampton vs Chelsea – Match preview and team news

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The Football Faithful

·4 Desember 2024

Southampton vs Chelsea – Match preview and team news

Chelsea travel to the South Coast to face bottom-of-the-table Southampton this Wednesday.

The Blues are flying high in third place after an accomplished 3-0 victory over Aston Villa at the weekend.

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Southampton had to settle for a point on the road at Brighton after a spirited performance merited a 1-1 draw. However, Russell Martin now has a selection headache on his hands with three key players out suspended.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Flynn Downes and Tyler Dibling all picked up their fifth yellow cards of the campaign in that stalemate with Brighton.

Chelsea also suffered a blow this week with Wesley Fofana not likely to feature until 2025 after the Frenchman picked up a hamstring injury against Aston Villa.

Southampton vs Chelsea – Match preview and team news

Form

Southampton: WWLLD

It was an encouraging display from Southampton on Friday night as they held firm against a talented Brighton outfit.

The Saints showed character to equalise away from home before being unfortunate not to grab the winner.

Midweek MATCHDAY 💪
– Rabu, 4 Desember 2024

Adam Armstrong was adjudged to have interfered from an offside position in the build-up to Cameron Archer’s goal.

The decision was contentious with Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen candidly admitting in a post-match interview that he wasn’t sure why it wasn’t given. That result left Saints rooted to the foot of the table and six points from safety.

Chelsea: WDWWW

Chelsea have impressed under Enzo Maresca this campaign, though the Italian has dismissed the suggestion his team are title contenders.

The West Londoners occupy third place in the league but have an identical record to Arsenal in second, including scoring and conceding the same amount of goals as the Gunners.

How it started 🆚 How it’s going. 💙 #CFC | #CHEAVL
– Senin, 2 Desember 2024

Chelsea eased past Aston Villa on Sunday and kept their first clean home clean sheet in the league in the process.

Only Liverpool have collected more points on the road than Chelsea this season, with Maresca’s side recording four wins from their six away games.

Last Meeting: Chelsea 0-1 Southampton, Premier League, 18th February 2023.

Southampton overcame Chelsea in the last meeting between the teams with a shock win at Stamford Bridge.

The visitors controlled the opening exchanges and it took a goal-line clearance from Kalidou Koulibaly to prevent James Ward-Prowse from breaking the deadlock. However, there was nothing the Chelsea defence could do to deny the set-piece specialist from firing in a free-kick. Ward-Prowse stepped up in first-half stoppage time and whipped an unstoppable effort past Kepa Arrizabalaga and into the bottom corner.

Chelsea had an abundance of chances to level the scoreline after the break, but valiant defending from Southampton would keep their lead intact. Raheem Sterling had two gilt-edged chances cleared off the line from the Saints defence that continued to hold firm to collect three points at Stamford Bridge.

However, Ruben Selles’ side only picked up one more win from their remaining 15 league games and were relegated to the Championship.

Predicted Lineups

Southampton: Lumley, Sugawara, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning; Armstrong, Fernandes, Aribo, Fraser; Archer.

Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Badiashile, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Madueke; Jackson.

Who is the referee?

Tony Harrington will be the match official. He will be assisted by Mat Wilkes and Steve Meredith while Simon Hooper will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Matt Donohue and he will be assisted by Sian Massey-Ellis.