Chelsea and Southampton will clash for the second time in just eight days when the two sides meet on Sunday in Wembley Stadium for an FA Cup semifinal clash. The Blues came back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat the Saints 3-2 this past Saturday at the St. Mary’s. Chelsea leads the all time series between the two clubs 43-30, with 28 draws.
This will be the last chance for both clubs to get their first trophy of the season, so expect this clash to be very competitive. Let’s look at who both sides could field in their respective first teams.
FA Cup semifinal match odds: Chelsea 8/15 Southampton 13/2 Draw 15/4
FA Cup outright winner Odds: Chelsea 7/4 Tottenham 2/1 United 11/4 Southampton 20/1
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The Blues are still without the injured trio of David Luiz, Ethan Ampadu and Danny Drinkwater. On the flip side, Southampton defender Jack Stephens is suspended following his red card against Arsenal, while Mario Lemina is injured. Sofiane Boufal faces a late fitness test, as he’s a doubt due to illness.
Marcos Alonso is suspended after being handed a three-game ban by the FA for violent conduct following a tackle on Saints striker Shane Long. The Blues were not able to successfully overrule the ruling handed out by the Football Association, and thus, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has a bit of a selection issue in the back line. He cannot afford any more injuries in the defender position group.
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction (3-4-3):
F: Olivier Giroud, Eden Hazard, Willian
MF: N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas, Victor Moses, Cesar Azpilicueta
D: Antonio Rudiger, Gary Cahill, Andreas Christensen
G: Thibaut Courtois
Southampton FC Starting XI Prediction (4-2-3-1)
S: Shane Long
AM: James Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic, Ryan Bertrand
MF: Oriol Romeu, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
D: Jan Bednarek, Maya Yoshida, Wesley Hoedt, Cedric Soares
GK: Alex McCarthy
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Southampton 1
Saints looked good, for at least a half, against last year’s Premier League champions, but it would be difficult to see them putting forth another effort like that, given how their season has gone up until this point.
As always, feel free to post to your own Tottenham and/or United starting XI predictions, as well as your score predictions, in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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