After Sofiane Boufal’s stunning first goal for the club saw Southampton edge past Sunderland to reach the EFL Cup quarter finals, Claude Puel’s men now look ahead to the visit of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea at St Mary’s in the Premier League.
The win in midweek saw Saints keep their seventh clean sheet of the season in all competitions and set up a quarter final showdown against Arsenal at The Emirates. The Gunners are still the last side to inflict defeat on Saints in domestic football after their controversial 2-1 win back in September.
As for visitors Chelsea, their form has picked as of late despite being knocked out of the EFL Cup in midweek after a 2-1 defeat at West Ham. Prior to the loss at the London Stadium, The Blues had won three on the bounce in the Premier League without conceding, after a 2-0 victory at Hull was followed up with impressive home wins over Leicester City and Manchester United respectively.
In terms of team news, Southampton will be expected to make numerous changes from the side that beat Sunderland on Wednesday night, with Fraser Forster returning in goal as well as Virgil van Dijk and Cuco Martina returning at the back. Ryan Bertrand is also expected to return from injury to face his former club, with the ex-Chelsea man returning from a hamstring injury which has seen Sam McQueen deputise at left-back. Jay Rodriguez and Shane Long, however, will be sidelined through injury.
Antonio Conte is also likely to ring the changes from the side that lost at West Ham in the week, with club captain John Terry likely to return to the bench after suffering an ankle injury that had kept him out of action for more than six weeks. Branislav Ivanovic, however, will be available to start after a minor injury had kept him sidelined. Playmaker Cesc Fabregas, though, will remain out with a thigh injury.
I’ll now take a look back at the last four meetings between The Saints and The Blues.
