English Premier
2025-02-25 - Chelsea vs Southampton
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Tuesday 25th February 2025 - Kick Off 8:15pm
This game is live on TV
Chelsea
Scoring early put Chelsea on the right track to earning an important three points at Villa Park on Saturday evening, but they could not build on that opener. Instead it was Aston Villa who fought back and scored a late winner and Enzo Maresca and his Chelsea team have struggled to turn around recent poor form.
They are 7th in the Premier League table, but Chelsea can move into the top four with a victory on Tuesday evening with the majority of their main rivals for those positions not playing until Wednesday. The Blues are only a point behind Manchester City in 4th place and they have a 6-4-2 record at Stamford Bridge in the League.
Chelsea have lost 4 of their last 5 games in all competitions, including the last 3 in a row and the pressure is building on the manager. The setbacks have mainly been away from Stamford Bridge and Chelsea are unbeaten in 4 in front of their home fans, during which time they have won 3 times.
Trevoh Chalobah is a doubt and a number of squad players remain sidelined through injury.
Southampton
Another fixture ending in a home thumping has just pushed Southampton that much closer to officially being relegated from the Premier League. They are still chasing the points that would see Southampton finish with more than the low that was set by Derby County, but the confidence of the players has to be shattered following the 0-4 crushing defeat to Brighton.
The Saints remain bottom of the Premier League table, but they are now 13 points from safety and with just twelve League games left to play. The only positive for Southampton playing this fixture away from St Mary's is that they have a 1-2-10 record on their travels, which means the majority of the points earned this season have been in away fixtures played.
Southampton's poor run of form continued on Saturday and the team have lost 9 of their last 11 games in all competitions. One of those exceptions was an away win at Ipswich Town, a result that snapped Southampton's 3 game losing run on their travels.
Jan Bednarek is a doubt, while Ivan Juric is hoping that some of his squad members can return in the Premier League fixture after this one, which is played in the second weekend in March.
Head to Head
Southampton were already 1-3 behind at St Mary's when Jack Stephens was sent off in Chelsea's 1-5 victory in December.
A little over two years ago, Southampton were 0-1 winners at Stamford Bridge in a season in which they were relegated.
Chelsea have only won 1 of their last 6 games at Stamford Bridge against this opponent.
Prediction
Recent performances have been disappointing as far as Enzo Maresca and his Chelsea team are concerned and the injuries in the final third have just made things all the tougher for them.
Cole Palmer is clearly not operating at his top level right now and Chelsea do not have consistent players outside of the England international who can step up to help him. That has perhaps held Chelsea back and the fans are becoming a little restless, even if results at Stamford Bridge have been stronger than on their travels.
Enzo Maresca may feel the board are right behind him, but the manager may find things have changed if Chelsea are not playing in the Champions League next season.
Despite the poor run of form, The Blues are still in a position to finish in a Champions League spot and they can certainly get back on track over the next couple of Premier League games.
Hosting two of the bottom three gives Chelsea a big chance to turn things back around and they are certainly looking good enough to beat a struggling Southampton team.
For all of their own issues, Chelsea have won 3 of 4 at Stamford Bridge and they have found a way to create chances and score goals, which is going to be amplified against a porous Southampton team.
After another crushing home defeat, The Saints have edged that much closer to officially being relegated back into the Championship. Ivan Juric has not really been able to turn things around and Southampton will do well to contain the Chelsea threat in this match.
Southampton can play a part in the match having scored in all 4 away Premier League games played under their current caretaker manager. They will also be encouraged by some of the vulnerability shown by Chelsea, although it will still be perhaps asking too much of the away team to secure a positive result.
It is hard to ignore the fact that Chelsea have only kept a single clean sheet at home in the Premier League this season. Add in Southampton's recent successes in the final third in away games and the best play in this fixture may be backing Chelsea to win a fixture in which both teams do find the back of the net.
However, the slightly shorter price of backing Chelsea to win in a game that features at least four goals may be the better angle to take- Southampton could play a part as mentioned, but the defending has been very poor and Chelsea might be able to score the four goals to cover the total line on their own and that might be the best way to approach a fixture in which the layers are taking no chances.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Chelsea 4-1 Southampton
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back
