Southampton vs Chelsea

Current form Chelsea takes to the South Coast to take on the Premier League’s bottom side Southampton on Wednesday night.

Enzo Maresca’s men sustained a splendid run of performances with yet another impressive victory at the weekend; the home team, on the other hand, occupy last place after some fiasco on Friday.

After a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa on the past Sunday it is now possible though rather quiet to speak of Chelsea playing for the title.

Maresca’s men have been arguably the best team behind Liverpool in the English Premier League and their Sunday success has maintained them in the second position with Arsenal on the same number of points, only that the Gunners are placed above them only in terms of the alphabet.

It was a perfect afternoon for the Blues as all their attacking players scored and the defence achieved its first league shut-out since mid-September.

After the game on Sunday, both Maresca and talisman Cole Palmer dismissed the talk of being in the title race, although the midfielder stated that it will be challenging since this is only the first year of the project, bearing in mind that players are still getting used to it.

This midweek fixture will however present them with a good chance of achieving this since Arsenal will be facing a tricky United side.

They have won all their four away matches against teams in the bottom half this season and Southampton being a team which has registered 10 defeats in 13 matches this season, seems a more comfortable match on paper.

However, the hosts have a better recent record against the Blues, having been defeated only twice in the past seven encounters; and achieving a league double on Chelsea whom they relegated in the season 2022-2023.

Russell Martin and his players can also have many takeaways from a spirited performance at Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday that only produced a one-all draw.

However, there was a great deal of frustration in the aftermath, with Martin being incensed that VAR had controversially denied Cameron Archer's potential winner.
After losing 3-2 to Liverpool five days prior, the Saints had just missed stealing points from them, therefore this was their second strong showing in as many days.

They simply haven't been getting results; their single victory of the season thus far was a 1-0 victory over Everton at home.

Martin's team has more difficult games ahead of them, with travels to Fulham and Aston Villa, two teams vying for European spots, and Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at St Mary's.
According to Opta's forecasts, Southampton has a 94% chance of being relegated, suggesting that the team four points from the bottom will face an overwhelming uphill battle.

The reasons behind this are demonstrated by the underlying statistics, which show that Southampton has not only scored the fewest goals in the Premier League but has also made the most mistakes that resulted in shots and goals and lost possession in the defensive third more frequently than any other team—a fact for which Martin has come under fire.

With Aston Villa, Spurs, and Liverpool coming up after this game, Southampton is having one of the worst starts to a season in Premier League history, and there isn't much to be hopeful about given their schedule. Chelsea, on the other hand, has had a fantastic start to the season under Enzo Maresca and may finish the midweek games in the top two.

The hosts are the largest underdog going into this match on matchday 14 of the Premier League, despite winning the last meeting between these teams 1-0 in February 2023 due to their poor play this season.

Let's examine the important statistics. Roblem is also keeping the right-back out, but other than that, Maresca has the whole of his team at his disposal after Pedro Neto and Malo Gusto returned over the weekend.

There might not be many personnel changes at St Mary's because Chelsea's league XI can rotate in cup competitions, but Noni Madueke might be one after being unexpectedly left off the team the weekend.