Chelsea vs Southampton: Four things to look for before break

Chelsea welcomes Southampton to Stamford Bridge in a Premier League contest. All eyes are on the Blues to see if they can react to back-to-back losses for the second time under Thomas Tuchel. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men held them to two draws last season and Tuchel’s Chelsea will want to make sure it takes maximum points this time around. A lot of narratives are building about the Blues naturally because they’ve lost their last two games and only managed one shot on target.

Here are four things to look for in the Blues versus Saints:

1. Pressure handling

Chelsea has struggled against high pressing sides as of late, especially under Tuchel. This is perhaps best displayed by the fact that the Blues have failed to beat Southampton in their last three tries. They failed to take more than two points from six last season, conceding in both games. Chelsea’s forwards weren’t particularly stifled in the games last season, but Hasenhuttl’s men generally made things difficult for the Blues in midfield.

Lately, Chelsea has come up against teams with similar playing styles and struggled. Southampton could indeed walk away with all three points on Saturday if it plays its cards right. After all, Saints beat Liverpool last season and Liverpool is the king of pressing. It will be interesting to see how Tuchel and the players try to handle the pressure that will inevitably come from Southampton.

2. The front three

Antonio Conte has suggested that Tuchel is not using new signing Romelu Lukaku the way he should. Tuchel had stated before the Belgian joined that Chelsea would not need to change the way it plays. Many talk about how Lukaku is equally good at running in behind as he is playing with his back to goal. In reality, Lukaku is almost completely a back-to-goal striker, as that’s his first instinct in games. The best chances are created with forwards who are equally ready to run off the shoulder of defenders a lot. There’s a reason Werner always seems to get chances, albeit to miss.

Lukaku has barely had chances created for him to score in recent matches, that’s as much down to Lukaku as it is the players around him. Tuchel needs chances to be created for Lukaku. However, the system Lukaku thrived in did not see him play with two attacking midfielders behind him. Who does Tuchel deploy to serve as creator for Lukaku? Mason Mount seems to still be injured. Kai Havertz has only created one clear cut chance in the league since he arrived and Hakim Ziyech, weirdly, was played on the left side against Juventus. A side that Tuchel knows he won’t get the best out of the Moroccan. Does Tuchel go to his fringe players? Does he try Ross Barkley out? Barkley did come on against Juventus and create the only big chance for Lukaku, who missed.

3. Formation

In an attempt to “get the best out of Lukaku,” could we see Tuchel change to a formation that perhaps Lukaku is more familiar with? Lukaku played primarily in a 3-5-2 at Inter Milan under Conte, often playing with a strike partner who ran off him. This meant that Inter’s main style of build up was long balls. Lukaku was trusted to keep the ball wherever it landed while other players joined the play. It worked as Lukaku led the team in goals, assists and big chances created, en route to winning the league for the first team in 10 years.

The implication of that would be that Chelsea’s whole play would hinge on one player and that’s dangerous, especially if teams figure out ways to counter the threat of Lukaku. However, make no mistake, there are ways to nullify Lukaku’s back to goal play. Tuchel played a two-striker formation at the beginning of the season though, and it worked. Havertz and Werner played as the strikers and Ziyech was deployed behind them as the sole No. 10.

This was working magnificently until Ziyech got injured and Tuchel changed the formation. That was Ziyech’s best game creation wise this season, creating four chances, including one big chance. This could be an option for Tuchel to utilize the two-striker formation system without diminishing the Blues’ build-up play options to only long balls. Werner and Ziyech could press from the front, seeing as Lukaku doesn’t press intensely. Werner and Lukaku could also press from the front, leaving Ziyech behind them to capitalise on any mistake and pick out any of the two strikers for goal scoring opportunities.

4. A Chelsea response

This response is long overdue. The Blues lost to Manchester City at the weekend with a dire performance. Lacklustre and all. The fans expected a reaction in mid-week against Juventus, but they were lacklustre again, topping off another dire performance with another loss. The psychological impact of losing three games in a row could be heavy. The Chelsea players have shown their mental fortitude over the past few months. No one wants to find out how they handle back-to-back-to-back defeats (except maybe neutrals). The Blues have to step up their decision making and be sharper in this game to avoid another slow, toothless performance against Saints.

What are some of the things you’ll be looking out for in the match? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!