Another long international break, which brought only bad news for Chelsea, is now winding down and it’s time to talk about Premier League match days again. The Blues will host Southampton FC on Saturday, in a match where neither side is where they want to be right now.
Chelsea is 7th, with a form guide that shows WLDW while Southampton sit 11th, and their form reads LLWW. Midtable is alright for Saints, but they want to challenge for a Europa League position. For Chelsea, their big summer spending spree means they must compete for the biggest of trophies, and right now.
Southampton FC at Chelsea FC FYIs
Kickoff: Sat October 17, 3pm BST, Stamford Bridge, London
TV: NBCSN (US) BT Sport Box Office, a pay-per-view service (UK)
Saints team news and Chelsea starting XI prediction: go to this link
Betting Odds: Chelsea win 8/15 Draw 15/4 Southampton win 11/2
The Blues might be without their big money left back summer signing in Ben Chilwell as he left the England camp yesterday, due to a pre-existing foot injury. We should know more after manager Frank Lampard’s pre match press conference, but it sounds like he might have re-aggravated the heel problem that kept him out at the beginning of the season.
Forward Timo Werner will also face a last minute assessment, having missed Germany’s UEFA Nations League match with Turkey due to an illness. Finally, and perhaps the worst news relates to No. 1 Edouard Mendy, who is expected to miss out after picking up a thigh injury during a training session with Senegal.
Now that we covered who could be out, or is out, let’s talk about who is in. Hakim Ziyech should make his Chelsea debut, with his having played 31 minutes for Morocco during the internationals. It seems his knee injury has healed, and he although he probably won’t start here, he could likely feature.
Finally, Christian Pulisic, who has high ambitions for his club this season, only saw a few minutes of playing time in his season debut, the very last match before the break.
Expect the American to have a much greater role here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.