After a thumping win over Manchester United last weekend in their ground, Chelsea were dealt with a shock defeat against West Ham away in the English League Cup. While with the squad missing many players, it was a quite clear indication that Antonio Conte does not hold the EFL Cup in the best of esteems and his major focus is on Premier league with Chelsea sitting in the 4th place with 19 points from the opening 9 games.
They are just one point less than Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City who are on level points. Conte will be expecting the side to continue their good League form from his team again when they visit Southampton. However, this could turn out to be a pretty tough game for Chelsea as Southampton have been decent in their home games, managing to get 8 points from a possible 12 in their 4 games. Chelsea’s away record this season hasn’t been very special with 7 points from 4 games.
Hence, Conte would be approaching with much caution and look to seal the game as early as possible.
Defence
Conte’s masterpiece this season has been him changing the defensive look of Chelsea and it was widely applauded against Manchester United where the Red Devils could not find a chink in Chelsea’s armour. He is expected to stick to his trio at the back especially after a disastrous result in the midweek where he tweaked the back three.
With Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill and David Luiz at the back, Conte has clear orders for his back line. Although many thought Conte would use Terry’s experience to strengthen his defence, his plan seems perfectly executed with Cahill.
Midfield
Many thought that with Oscar and Willian returning to the squad, Conte would drop back Pedro to the bench, but with his opening goal against United which came within the opening few seconds has restored Conte’s faith in the Spaniard. However, with Conte starting him on the bench in the midweek, we expect to see him start ahead of Willian.
Conte was forced to bring on Eden Hazard in the second half to save the game but the Belgian could not pull off anything special. He is also expected to start this weekend. A major concern will be N’Golo Conte, who played the full match against West Ham. Although he will get 3 days of rest, Conte would be careful with the French international. Nemanja Matic will also start at the defensive midfield.
Attack
Conte was forced to play Costa in the end of the match with Batshuayi failing to do anything productive. He will definitely start with his top scorer against Southampton.
