Chelsea vs Southampton predictions: Blues to bounce back on home turf
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- Chelsea have only lost once on home soil since August
- Southampton are 13 points adrift of safety
- Recommended bet: Chelsea to win and both teams to score
Chelsea will be hoping Tuesday's meeting with the Premier League's bottom club Southampton provides them with the perfect opportunity to return to winning ways.
The Blues have lost three matches on the bounce across all competitions, but all of those defeats – two to Brighton and one against Aston Villa – have come on their travels, with their record at Stamford Bridge looking far more secure.
Southampton remain cut adrift at the bottom of the standings following Saturday's 4-0 home loss to Brighton – an eighth defeat across their last nine league matches – although the one exception during that sequence was a 2-1 success at Ipswich in their most recent away fixture.
Team news
Chelsea's injury concerns deepened during Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Villa, as defender Trevoh Chalobah was forced off early in that contest with a back injury.
He now looks set to join Romeo Lavia (muscle), Nicolas Jackson, Marc Guiu, Wesley Fofana, Noni Madueke and Benoit Badiashile (all hamstring) on the treatment table.
As for Saints, they lost Jan Bednarek to injury against Brighton and he is expected to join fellow centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis (ankle), as well as Adam Lallana (hamstring), Ryan Fraser (knock) and Ross Stewart (calf) on the sidelines.
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The stats
Chelsea have failed to win any of their last seven away games across all competitions, losing five of those, but it is a different story on home soil where they have lost just one of their last 17.
Enzo Maresca's team thrashed Southampton 5-1 when they met at St Mary's earlier in the season, but the Saints were 1-0 winners on their last visit to Stamford Bridge in February 2023 – James Ward-Prowse scoring the only goal that day.
Southampton hold the worst away record in the Premier League, registering just one win and five points from their 13 such matches this season.
Ivan Juric's side did win at Ipswich in their last road fixture, but that is their only victory, home or away, in their last 16 top-flight games.
Prediction
Chelsea may have lost four away matches on the bounce, but their home record remains solid and they should have no problems seeing off a Southampton team cut adrift at the bottom of the standings and facing an immediate return to the Championship.
The Blues were poor against Brighton a couple of weeks ago, but produced an improved showing when facing Villa on Saturday, while Saints were thrashed by the Seagulls on the same day.
The Saints had scored in their five league games prior to that 4-0 defeat and they will fancy their chances of getting on the scoresheet at Stamford Bridge given Chelsea's injury concerns at the back.
Chelsea have also kept just one clean sheet across their last 11 games in all competitions and that came against League Two strugglers Morecambe, so take Maresca's men to concede on Tuesday, but anything less than a home win would be a surprise.
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