Barclays Premier League: Southampton vs Chelsea, Match Preview, Men to Watch, Top Facts: Match Preview, Men to Watch, Top Facts

Gameweek 31

St. Mary's Stadium

30 March, 2013

Southampton host Chelsea looking to produce the heroics of their visit to Stamford Bridge where they salvaged a 2-2 draw. They would need something like that to keep hopes of survival in the premiership alive and they will be buoying on confidence after beating Liverpool 3-1 the last time they played at home . For Chelsea, this starts a marathon run of fixtures and each one of them carries significant importance. 

Southampton

Probable Line up

Formation: 4-4-2

Boruc, Fonte, Clyne, Shaw, Yoshida, Schneiderlin, Cork, Lallana, Ramirez, Lambert, Rodriguez

News:

A victory against Liverpool has to be the highlight of Southampton season, but prior to that the draw at Bridge ranked up highly in their achievements as well. Scoring goals has not been a problem for Southampton, its their defense that required a lot of training in order to keep their line straight and stop scoring own-goals. A fit squad for the new manager at St. Mary to chose from, a major scalp waits for Mauricio Pocchetino. 

Men to Watch

Ricky Lambert

Exceptional

Who else can it be? The mercurial striker has struck an outstanding 13 league goals with a goal against the visitors at the Bridge as well. He has been in decent form collecting 3 assists and scoring 3 goals in his last 7 games. For Pocchetino to get a win here, he needs to be at the top of his game. Chelsea's defense has not looked sharp all season and he may get a chance to capitalize on the present vulnerability.

Form

Southampton has scored 8 points from their last 6 games which include scalps of Liverpool and Manchester City at home. Their away form needs to pick up but in order to survive they need to make their home ground a fortress, and Chelsea will find it difficult to breach it!

TOP FACT: AMONG THE BOTTOM HALF SOUTHAMPTON HAVE SCORED THE MOST NUMBER OF GOALS (41) TIED WITH NEWCASTLE UNITED.

Chelsea

Probable Line up

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Cech, Cahill, Luiz, Azpilicueta, Bertrand, Mikel, Lampard, Mata, Moses, Hazard, Torres

News:

With an FA CUP quarter-final replay to come this mid-week, we might see some players rested and a rare start for Torres while Ba will be rested for the mid-week clash. Oscar has had games with Brazil so he might have a rest, while Hazard and Mata enjoyed relatively easy outing physically in their international matches. This is a start to a hectic fixture congestion for Chelsea but apart from Romeu Rafa Benitez has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Men to Watch:

Fernando Torres

Inconsistent!

He will be starting this game in my opinion, he should as Chelsea would want Ba to start against Manchester United. The last time he got dropped for Spain was before the start of the Euro 2012, he notched up a hatrick against QPR and You might call me crazy, I am going for that again. Southampton love to concede and if he gets one, there is a certain possibility he will get a brace, on this occasion an open contest awaits him and he might get a lot of chances. Put your shooting boots on Nando and you will get many chances to score, or be the player you have been and squander every single one of them! Upto you!

Form:

Losses away to City and Newcastle halted a decent run of form for the Blues but back to back home wins against West Ham and West Brom have come at a welcome time for Benitez. He must be looking to score a lot of goals here because defending against Southampton is definitely not the way to go if you are looking for three points.

TOP FACT: CHELSEA HAVE CONCEDED JUST 30 GOALS ALL SEASON, THAT PLACES THEM SECOND IN THE GOALS CONCEDED LIST BEHIND MANCHESTER CITY.

Prediction:

Southampton 2 - 3 Chelsea

A high scoring, entertaining game awaits us! It should be, with the attacking talents of Hazard and Mata on show, and the attacking intent that Southampton always plays with, this game surely has to have goals in it. I have my fingers crossed, you should keep them crossed as well!