Southampton are travelling to Stamford Bridge on the weekend to face Chelsea in their Premier League fixture. Mauricio Pellegrino’s men suffered a heavy 1-4 defeat to Leicester City at home on Wednesday and opened up a 4 point gap behind Everton in the 11th spot.
They had an impressive display at the St. Mary’s Stadium against Arsenal last weekend and held them to a 1-1 draw, almost getting the win but they were just outclassed by the pace and attacking prowess of the Foxes.
The Saints have a tough schedule ahead of the new year with Tottenham and Manchester United lined up on the 26th and 30th of December respectively. Dropping to the second half of the table before January might not be in the best interest of the fans as Pellegrino will be eager to escape a loss to the Blues this weekend.
Match fatigue is an alarming factor in such closely knit schedule of games and managers have to allocate their resources cleverly in the Christmas period. Pellegrino is expected to field his men in a 4-2-3-1 formation for this match.
Defence
Fraser Foster is the first choice for the Saints having started every game in the Premier League so far. He is expected to get the nod again for this matchup.
Even after appearing for 2 consecutive fixtures, it will be a bit concerning if Ryan Bertrand is benched for this game. He is expected to start again in the left-back position and can be substituted in the later stages by an understudy, Matt Targett.
Maya Yoshida scored the only goal for Southampton in their last match and is expected to start again alongside Virgil van Dijk.
Cedric Soares returned to the lineup against Leicester and might continue to feature in the right-back role in this fixture.
Midfield
After a rotation of personnel in the midfield, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is predicted to start alongside Steven Davis. Mario Lemina might make a substitute appearance in the second half if the duo fails to shield the back line against the Chelsea attacks.
Nathan Redmond might start ahead of Soufiane Boufal on the left wing with Dusan Tadic on the right.
James Ward-Prowse can be expected to take up the attacking midfield position behind the lone striker.
Attack
Charlie Austin has been on a good run of form with 5 goals in the Premier League so far. But he can be expected to get a breather for this match and Manolo Gabbiadini might get the nod to start. Shane Long is yet to return from a calf injury.
