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Chelsea vs Southampton – Match Preview

The battle to win the F.A. Cup Semi Final may have been with Chelsea but the war to win the Premier League has not quite been won. After what was a frenetic skirmish at Wembley on Saturday, Antonio Conte’s men got the upper hand over arch rivals Tottenham and tonight they will look to apply more pressure on their London counterparts.

That is because both they and Spurs play their games in hand over the course of the next two evenings, but this time the running order is different as it’s Chelsea who play first this time around and they are presented with the perfect opportunity to once again extend the gap at the top to 7 points as the race for the Premier League hots up.

Tonight the one time runaway league leaders play host to a Southampton side that are comfortably in mid-table and do not have a lot to play for. Are the South Coast club going to be on the beach later this evening and if so can Chelsea take full advantage.

Antonio Conte raised plenty of eyebrows on Saturday as he started the Semi Final clash against Tottenham without both Eden Hazard and Diego Costa. Both eventually came off the bench and Hazard scored the all important third for Chelsea.

His impact was clinical while Costa’s was once again unremarkable, that leaves Conte with the decision as to whether or not bring both his pair of star players back into the fold. You would imagine that Hazard will be inline for a recall while Costa could still have to make do with the bench.

The only thing that may work in the favour of the Spanish international is the fact that his replacement at the weekend Michy Batshuyai hardly pulled up any trees either therefore it could be a case of devil the better you know in regards to leading the attack line.

At the other end of the pitch, Gary Cahill missed out on Saturday with a Stomach Virus but could be in line for a recall to face Southampton. The Saints come into this game well rested due to now weekend activity but they will look to perform better than their last league outing.

That was a 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City at St Mary’s in which they easily outclassed by Pep Guardiola’s all star line up. Southampton’s season is not going anywhere to be fair as even if they win later this evening they will still stay 9th.

That will however have to be careful that they do not get swallowed up by the chasing pack of teams below them, that part of the table is ludicrously congested as everyone fights to fill the remaining two top half slots but with 8 teams chasing them a lot of clubs are going to end up disappointed.

Southampton boss Claude Puel has to make sure that his teams fortunes do not fizzle out between now and the end of the season. After Wembley disappointment of their own in February their campaign has hardly got out of second gear since

That is understandable as European football has alluded them this season and they are in no danger of going down either. Southampton have been patchy across the season as they can never really get a decent run of form of going, which is reflected by their current league placing.

I think the target for The Saints between now and May will be to secure a top 10 finish and look to kick on next season, once again Southampton fans are going to have to brace themselves for a talent drain in the Summer but I guess they are used to that by now.

As for proceedings at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are going to have their tails up after knocking the wind out of Tottenham’s sails and I would imagine them to kick on against a Southampton side who are coasting. A comfortable home win and the pressure goes back on to Mauricio Pochettino’s men 24 hours later.

 

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