Southampton

(Form check: WWDWD)

Southampton suffered a slightly sticky start to the season which in the first 4 games saw them endure two loses and two draws. A certain feeling was murmuring around St Mary’s that this could be the season their continual summer sell off was going to come back to haunt them. In fairness to the team though they’ve responded in a big way, unbeaten in 6, winning 4.

A mixture of reasons contributed to this, firstly new manager Claude Puel needed time to embed his philosophy (particularly his 4-4-2 Diamond formation) and secondly the return of first choice centre back partnership Jose Fonte & Virgil Van Dijk who are so key to the team. With European football now at the doorstep of the Saints fans the main worry now is the amount of games a small select squad is able to play before the cracks start to show. This will be their 5th game in 14 days, with another 2 coming up in the next week!

Team news: Shane Long will be a massive miss to the saints team as his pace has been a useful weapon in both attack and defence, he’ll be missing for some weeks with a hamstring injury. Ryan Bertrand and Cedric Soares are possible returners though, deliberately held back from playing to be clear for some big upcoming games. If they do return this would mean Southampton playing their preferred back line for only the second time this season. Dusan Tadic was rested midweek and he’ll spearhead the midfield diamond with Charlie Austin looking to score his 5th of the season.

Chelsea

(Form check: WLWWW)

Chelsea purred last weekend in the 4-0 destruction of Manchester United. Antonio Conte has seemingly rejuvenated the Chelsea team with 3-4-3 formation which allows attacking freedom, in particular for Hazard and Pedro. For me the star performers are those two men in midfield, N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic who are starting to create a partnership which could be talked of for many years to come around Stamford Bridge.

What a snip N’Golo Kante was at £30million, if he didn’t have admirers before his growing reputation will have raised attention of all the biggest clubs in the world. Don’t underestimate Nemanja Matic though, he returned after leaving the blues in a £21 million transfer two years ago from Benfica (not looking such a bad price now in todays market!). Often seen for his physicality and his calm presence in midfield helps to relax the team. How about some impressive stats for these two…currently they sit 4th & 5th in players who have run the furthest in premier league this season, a jaw dropping 100 miles between them, that’s some duo!

Team news: Chelsea were able to rest key players in the build up to this game during their midweek loss to West Ham in the EFL cup. John Terry, Willian and Oscar featured but all will be set to start on the bench as Chelsea look set to name the same line up for 4th game in a row. Victor Moses will has put in a number of impressively consistent performances and Marco Alonso continues to re-immerse himself with premier league life on the left hand side of midfield.

STATS

• There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 8 of Chelsea's last 9 games (Premier League).    

• Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in their last 3 matches (Premier League).

• Diego Costa already has 4 yellow cards to his name this season.

• Southampton are undefeated in their last 9 home matches (Premier League).    

• Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has a 91.7% passing completion rate (Premier League)

CURRENT MATCH ODDS (BEST PRICED ODDS) - Follow Link To Bet On Selections!

Southampton: 9/4 (Unibet)    Draw: 23/10 (Coral)    Chelsea: 7/5 (BetVictor)

SUMMING UP!

A tough, tough game especially from the perspective of being a Southampton fan!! I appreciate how well my team are playing but the injuries are creeping into the team already and I’m not sure we’ll have enough puff left for this one. Hopefully being ruthlessness in defence will give us a chance, but I certainly can see Chelsea sneaking this 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1. They’ve just got two many world class players playing near their peak at the moment.

MY RECOMMENDED BETS - Follow Link To Bet On Selections!

• Chelsea 2-0 (Best Priced 12/1 BetVictor)

• Highest Scoring Half: Second (Best Priced 11/10 Stan James)

• A Sending Off (Best Priced 10/3 William Hill)

• Pierre Emile Hojbjerg to be shown a card (Best Priced 40/17 Unibet)

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