Chelsea v Southampton: Chelsea aim for second spot with victory against Southampton

September 16, 2014

Chelsea are considered 3/5 favourites by Paddy Power to overcome their midweek loss to Basel and inflict the first back to back losses for Southampton this season.

There are several teams vying to cement themselves in second place in the league and Chelsea could move one step closer to doing just that with a win against Southampton at Stamford Bridge.

Despite losing 1-0 to Basel in Switzerland on Tuesday, The Blues are on good form in the Premier League and are third in the league with just Liverpool and Arsenal above them in the standings.

Chelsea will have the opportunity to close the gap to leaders Arsenal to four points, it won’t be easy as Jose Mourinho will be once again short of attacking options.

Samuel Eto’o has become the latest casualty as the Cameroonian striker picked up a hamstring injury that will rule him out of action for the next fortnight meaning that a fit-again Fernando Torres and Demba Ba are his only options in the middle of the attack.

David Luiz could also make an appearance on the bench following a few weeks out with a knee injury but the good form of Ivanovic, Terry and Cahill could mean that the Brazilian is given a little extra time to be fully fit for the lead-in to Christmas.

Southampton’s good start to the league was halted by a 2-0 loss to Arsenal last weekend and The Saints will be keen to avoid another loss in London as they look to stay within the upper echelons of the table.

There is some good news though for Mauricio Pocchetino as he will see both Gaston Ramirez and Jack Cork appear in the starting line=up after missing last week’s loss.

Cork has managed to fully recover from the ankle injury that kept him out of the game whilst Gaston Ramirez has arrived back from South America after failing to return from international duty with Uruguay in time for last Saturday’s clash.

Rickie Lambert is once again expected to lead the frontline for the visitors and the England striker will be keen to repeat the same actions as he did last year where he scored in both league games against The Blues.

Although Southampton’s good form will give something for Chelsea to think about, The Blues will be out to get a win against the Hampshire club and keep themselves very much in the hunt for the Premier League title.