Southampton vs Chelsea LIVE: Eden Hazard, Ross Barkley and Alvaro Morata secure comfortable victory
Re-live the latest from the Premier League fixture at St Mary’s Stadium
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Your support makes all the difference.Southampton, who are yet to win at home this season, welcome unbeaten Chelsea to St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.
Mark Hughes’ side are yet to impress this season, their solitary win coming at Crystal Palace before the international break, though they will be buoyed by their penalty shoot-out win at Everton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
Chelsea are in third place coming into the weekend’s action, and beat Hungarian champions Vidi in the Europa League on Thursday; the Blues can go top with a win before Liverpool play Manchester City later on in the day.
What time does it start?
Southampton vs Chelsea kicks off at 2:15pm (BST) on Sunday 7th October.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports’ Main Event and Premier League channels from 1:00pm.
Sky Sports subscribers can also watch the game via the SkyGo app.
Highlights will be shown at 10:30pm on BBC One.
It’s a big game for…
Mark Hughes: The Saints boss has won just once at St Mary’s since taking charge last March, and will want a strong home performance against a team he has lost a Premier league record 19 games against as a manager. Southampton only escaped relegation in the final few weeks of last season, and need to make St Mary’s a formidable place for visiting teams once again - they’re currently only three points above the drop zone.
Weird /best stat…
14: Southampton have only won one of their last 14 home league matches, a run which goes back to November 2017.
Remember when…
Although Southampton have lost their last six matches against Chelsea in all competitions, the Saints stunned the then-champions at Stamford Bridge as goals from Steven Davis, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle clinched a 3-1 victory in October 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWelNSSGI-Y
Player to watch…
Olivier Giroud: The 32-year-old striker has history against Southampton in his brief Chelsea career. The Blues were 2-0 down in last season’s fixture, but the introduction of the Frenchman changed the game. He scored twice, and once in the FA Cup semi-final tie a week later. Since then, Giroud has nailed down the lone striker role, ahead of the misfiring Alvaro Morata, and despite not scoring yet in the Premier League this season, his link-up play with Eden Hazard has played a massive part in the Belgian’s terrific form.
Past three-meetings…
Chelsea 2 (Giroud, Morata) Southampton 0, FA Cup Semi-Final, April 2018
Southampton 2 (Tadic, Bednarek) Chelsea 3 (Giroud 2, Hazard), Premier League, April 2018
Chelsea 1 (Alonso) Southampton 0, Premier League, December 2017
Form guide…
Southampton: WWDLLD
Chelsea: WWDWDW
Odds…
Southampton to win: 5/1
Chelsea to win: 3/5
Draw: 3/1
(Odds provided by 888 Sport)
52 minutes
Southampton look better. Danny Ings has another shot on target but Kepa is relatively untroubled.
53 minutes
Quick feet from Ross Barkley to evade Mario Lemina and the Gabonese midfielder rather scythes Barkley down. A clear booking.
55 minutes
Better tempo to the game since half-time. Danny Ings can't profit from another good Southampton attack, and then fouls Eden Hazard when showing impressive desire to track back.
Chelsea free-kick about 40 yards out in a central area.
ROSS BARKLEY CONTINUES HIS EXCELLENT WEEK WITH HIS FIRST CHELSEA GOAL!
A lovely routine on the edge of the area, an NBA-style screen with Olivier Giroud working around David Luiz blocking his marker to get completely free at the far post.
He latches on to Willian's free-kick in spectacular fashion, scissor-kicking the ball across the six-yard box. Giroud may be going for goal but Barkley is there nonetheless to turn home. 2-0 Chelsea.
59 minutes
Cedric is booked. A tall task for Southampton now if they are to get back in this.
61 minutes
Not the most discreet of challenges from Oriol Romeu. He's duly booked after forcefully stepping across Eden Hazard.
65 minutes
More yellow than a bunch of bananas.
Foul by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, lunging on Olivier Giroud after giving the ball away. He's the latest Saint into Craig Pawson's book.
66 minutes
Southampton are playing some better football again.
Hojbjerg is the man to nearly capitalise on Antonio Rudiger's wayward defensive header but the German recovers well to block the resulting shot.
First Southampton corner of the afternoon comes to nothing when Wesley Hoedt slices wide.
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