Chelsea predictions vs. Soton: Blues do something useful with their possession

Christian Pulisic will not arrive at Chelsea for a few months, but Southampton will be there in a few hours. Here are our predictions for the task at hand.

Southampton have had their new manager bounce come back down to earth with a few losses, but theirs is a long-term rebuild. The Saints are absorbing and integrating Ralph Hassenhuttl’s tactics as best they can, which makes them ambitious, patient and vulnerable. Chelsea’s best hope is that Southampton comes out ready to attack and leaves plenty of space for the Blues to slice through at the back for a much-needed multi-goal win.

Kevin Peacock: Chelsea 4 – 0 Southampton. Chelsea picked up six points in two tricky London derbies away from home. All that will be lost should they not secure the home win against Southampton.

Arsenal and Spurs both won their opening fixtures of 2019 and Chelsea need to keep the pressure on. Whilst Sarri’s team have won ugly, they’ve been unfortunate in not really finishing teams off. The woodwork and offsides flags have prevented the Blues from making fans’ lives a little more comfortable. A change of luck must soon be on the cards, so why not start off the year well. Eden Hazard with two, Ross Barkley and Alvaro Morata with one each.

Scott Brant: 2 – 1. Chelsea will have a ton of possession. That seems to be the one consistent stat. What they do with that possession varies from match to match. I have no idea what to expect so we’ll go with this: Alvaro Morata to score, and Eden Hazard to net a penalty. Charlie Austin to score for the Saints.

Tan Yi Hao: 3 – 0. Under their new manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Southampton will be very aggressive in their pressing and quick on the break. Southampton employed a similar style of play against Manchester City last week and came very close to coming up with a result against the Premier League holders. I can see them doing the same against the Blues this week.

However, Chelsea have actually been very comfortable playing against teams who press high (Liverpool, City) as compared to teams who sit back (United, Everton and West Ham) given the roles of David Luiz and Jorginho in the team. I see a comfortable win for Chelsea, with Eden Hazard and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both on the scoresheet.

Abhishek Pancholi: 2 – 1. Another day, another game that will follow the same pattern. Chelsea will hog the ball, try a few things but won’t be able to pull the trigger in a forgettable first half. In the second half, the Blues will do just about enough to put two goals past the Saints. And then they’ll spent the final 15 minutes hanging on to their lead like a mid-table side who needs to get to 40 points just to avoid relegation.

It won’t be a compelling spectacle, but hey, three points is three points, right?