Premier League: Matchweek 8
- Venue: St. Mary’s stadium
- Date: Sunday, 07 October
- Kick-off time: 18:00 PM
Chelsea have drawn their last two Premier League matches. Southampton, meanwhile, are without a victory in three fixtures.
TEAM:
Pedro is expected to be the player to miss out as Eden Hazard earns a recall to the starting lineup after beginning on the bench in midweek.
Sarri is likely to revert to the team which began the game against Liverpool last weekend, meaning that Giroud should get the nod over Morata.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, David Luiz, Marcos Alonso, Jorginho and N'Golo Kante will also expect to feature in the team.
Hughes has revealed that both Mohamed Elyounoussi and Long are back in contention after sitting out the game against Everton.
Jannik Vestergaard and Wesley Hoedt could return in the centre of defence, but goalkeeper Angus Gunn will be back on the bench despite his penalty-shootout heroics against the Toffees.
FACTS:
Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri could become the sixth manager to remain unbeaten in his first eight Premier League matches. The previous five are Frank Clark, who was unbeaten in his first 11 PL matches for Nottingham Forest, and four managers on eight matches: John Lyall (Ipswich Town), Peter Taylor (Leicester City), Jose Mourinho and Felipe Scolari (both Chelsea).
The Blues have only one defeat at St Mary's in 11 matches there in all competitions, winning the last three.
Olivier Giroud is one match from his 200th in the competition and enjoys facing Southampton. The Frenchman has scored in each of his past four matches against them, netting five goals in total.
Mark Hughes has lost his last six matches to Chelsea as a manager.
POSSIBLE LINE-UP:
Southampton: McCarthy; Soares, Vestergaard, Hoedt, Bertrand; Lemina, Hojbjerg; Elyounoussi, Ings, Redmond; Austin
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Jorginho, Kovacic; Willian, Kante, Hazard; Giroud
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistants: Ian Hussin, Richard West
Fourth official: Roger East
Betting & Match Odds
Southampton are
priced at odds of winning 5.55 according to VBet, while a draw is available at 3.57. A win for Chelsea are
priced at 1.63.
Click here to see all of VBet’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
