Chelsea vs Southampton: Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Prediction

Chelsea will look to go another step closer to reclaiming the Premier League title when they take on Southampton at Stamford Bridge this evening.

The Blues booked their place in the final of the FA Cup after beating Tottenham 4-2 at Wembley on Saturday and they will also be hoping the win will have inflicted a psychological blow over their title rivals.

Spurs cut the gap at the top to just four points last weekend after Chelsea lost at Old Trafford but Antonio Conte’s men can restore their seven-point lead with a win tonight ahead of Tottenham’s trip to Crystal Palace tomorrow.

Southampton come in to the game off the back of some inconsistent form as consecutive wins over Palace and West Brom were followed by a heavy 3-0 defeat at home to Man City last time out so they’ll be looking to get back on track in west London.

Team News

Conte surprisingly left Eden Hazard and Diego Costa on the bench for the FA Cup semi-final at the weekend but the duo are expected to be recalled to the starting eleven tonight.

Michy Batshuayi will drop out up front while Pedro may be sacrificed in attack as it will be tough for Conte to leave Willian out after he scored twice on Saturday.

Gary Cahill is also set to return after recovering from illness that kept him out at the weekend with Nathan Ake perhaps unfortunate to drop out after a promising display against Spurs.

Southampton will hand a late test to Sam McQueen as he’s suffering from a groin injury while Matt Targett and Charlie Austin are still unavailable despite returning to training this week.

Virgil van Dijk remains out with a foot injury while Alex McCarthy is also out with a hamstring problem.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Chelsea 2-0 Southampton: Chelsea have stuttered in recent weeks in the league but Saturday’s win over Spurs should have given them a huge boost so I’m expecting them to be at it tonight. A defeat would blow the title race wide open but a win would really put the pressure on Tottenham ahead of their tricky trip to Palace. It’s an opportunity I don’t see Chelsea passing up and I think they’ll ease to a 2-0 win tonight.

Betting Tips

Chelsea are the 4/9 favourites with the bookies but we can get new customers enhanced odds of 20/1 on the Blues – just click here to take advantage of these crazy odds [winnings as free bet, T&C’s apply].

Here are some other bets I like the look of:

• Both teams to score NO at: 10/11 – a £10 bet would return £19
• Exact score of 2-0 Chelsea at: 6/1 – a £10 bet would return £70
• Hazard to score first in a 2-0 Chelsea win at: 16/1 – a £10 bet would return £170