Chelsea will take on Southampton at the St. Mary’s Stadium on Sunday hoping to continue their recent good form across all competitions. Since their FA Community Shield defeat at the hands of Manchester City, the Pensioners have gone unbeaten and have looked impressive at both ends of the pitch. However, Maurizio Sarri’s men will face off against a solid Southampton side who would be desperate to get a result in front of their home supporters this weekend.
The West London outfit are expected to line up in a 4-3-3 formation with Sarri making some changes to his first-team ahead of this crucial league encounter at the South-coast of England.
4-3-3 Chelsea Predicted Lineup To Face Southampton
Defence
Kepa Arrizabalaga will retain his place in Sarri’s first-team for this Premier League match against the Saints. The Spanish goalie has enjoyed a rich vein of form of late and would be expected to put in a good performance at the St. Mary’s Stadium on Sunday.
Maurizio Sarri could opt to start with David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger in central defence after the duo put on an excellent display versus Liverpool last weekend. Cesar Azpilicueta will operate as the right-back while Marcos Alonso would look to link up with Hazard down the left flank.
The Pensioners’ defence will come up against one of the most in-form strikers in the Premier League in Danny Ings so it won’t be easy for them to keep him quiet for the full 90 minutes.
Midfield
The Chelsea midfield would be comprised of Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante who would all look to work together to dominate the ball at the middle of the pitch.
Attack
Both Eden Hazard and Willian are expected to start on the wings with Olivier Giroud operating as a sole centre-forward up top. Willian missed a lot of chances to score against Videoton so this game would serve as a perfect opportunity for him to return to his goal-scoring ways.
Hazard will be expected to score on the day and going by his excellent form; there is every chance that the Belgian could end up making the key difference on Sunday.
