Chelsea are set for the South Coast this weekend trying to get back to winning ways. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton are ready for the Saints...
Chelsea enter the final quarter of the league campaign with a trip to Southampton, beaten 3-1 in the corresponding fixture at Stamford Bridge. Like that October match, this is a 3pm Saturday kick-off – our ninth of the season and second in succession.
Most eyes are likely to be on Sunday afternoon’s meeting between Manchester City and Liverpool, but the Blues’ attempts to regain momentum will be watched by Arsenal and Tottenham, neighbours aiming to nick a top-four ticket off the doorstep.
Saturday’s hosts have the 11th-best home record in the division, mostly as a result of drawing seven of their 15 home matches to date.
Previously unbeaten in the league since September at St Mary’s (where 61 per cent of points and 54 per cent of goals have been racked up), Saints recently lost 2-1 consecutively to relegation-threatened Newcastle and Watford. As a result, they have the same number of points as at the same stage in 2020/21, when they finished 15th.
Saints held Man City to a draw earlier this year
As for Chelsea, only leaders City (with 39 points from 16 games) have a better record on their travels this season than Thomas Tuchel’s side (33 from 15); the Blues’ goal difference on the road is +20. And in contrast to the well-publicised recent home woes, Chelsea have won eight of our past nine matches across all competitions away from Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are looking to equal our club record seven successive away wins in all competitions, originally set in 1988/89 and equalled in 2019/20.
—KEY STAT
Chelsea team news
Southampton find themselves the filling in the Spanish bocadillo, three days after Chelsea’s quarter-final loss to Real Madrid and three days before the fight to claw back hopes of remaining European champions resumes at the Santiago Bernabeu. Even after the Spanish excursion there is no let-up: Crystal Palace lie in wait at Wembley the following Sunday.
Tuchel therefore has selection dilemmas at a moment his squad seems to lack freshness as well as form. His third-placed Blues also need a good league result after last weekend’s setback at home to Brentford, when we became the first Premier League side ever to score the opening goal in the second half but go on to lose by a three-goal margin. Weirdly, cut the crazy 15 minutes out of the past two games and our previously watertight defence might have helped secure two 1-1 draws.
Chelsea frustrated by Real Madrid in first leg | Unseen Extra
Chelsea were left frustrated by a very experienced Champions League team in Real Madrid. The Blues had 20 shots in total but struggled to convert more than their one goal, and turn their attention to the second leg in Madrid.
Top-four aspirants Arsenal being emphatically beaten by the Eagles on Monday was good news. Finishing in a Champions League berth is still in our gift and, as everyone’s wriggle room runs down, a win at St Mary’s would be most welcome.
Happily there have been more top-flight ups than downs in the south for the Blues, who have won 25 of the 39 played, drawing eight and losing six. Since Rickie Lambert scored Southampton’s winner in March 2013, our only defeat in the deep south came at Bournemouth three years ago. We have also won six on the spin on all fronts on the road – a fine achievement.
As with Real, winning the intense midfield scrap is usually half the battle against Saints, and the blend in that area has not quite been right in both the recent defeats. Tuchel’s other decisions revolve around who best offers balance in central defence and the left flank either in a four or five, and how to ensure the front three clicks more fluidly.
Kai Havertz continues his fine run of goalscoring across all competitions (seven in his past 10 games), but more verve, pressing and efficiency in front of goal would help the Blues’ cause generally. It would not be a surprise to see the silky German held back for Tuesday in the Spanish capital (even though Tuchel appeared to concede the tie is effectively over), and Romelu Lukaku asked to resume the October line-leading that helped turn Saints into sinners in a 3-1 win.
Havertz was on the scoresheet again on Wednesday night
| Southampton | 22 played | 13 won | 4 drawn | 5 lost |
| Portsmouth | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Bournemouth | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Brighton | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Rhythm of the Saints
While Chelsea tussled with the Spanish league leaders Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side had a clear week to prepare for this fixture. Prior to last weekend’s draw at Leeds, they had lost four on the spin across all competitions including the last two at home, denting the Austrian’s ambitions of a top-half finish. They have scored a single goal in 15 of their 30 league matches.
Since their defeat at Stamford Bridge, Cobham graduate Tino Livramento has vied for the right-back slot with Kyle Walker-Peters, Fraser Forster has stood in while goalkeeper Alex McCarthy was injured, and summer signing Adam Armstrong has dropped from centre-forward to right midfield in the same 4-4-2 shape. There was no place in last week’s squad for Nathan Redmond, a starter earlier in the campaign, nor Theo Walcott.