Chelsea fans protest against ownership ahead of Southampton clash
Sky Sports News' Gary Cotterill captured the scenes of fans demonstrating about the Chelsea ownership at Bovril Gate outside Stamford Bridge tonight.
Southampton team news
Southampton: Ramsdale, Sugawara, Bree, Bella-Kotchap, Walker-Peters, Downes, Smallbone, Fernandes, Aribo, Kamaldeen, Onuachu.
Substitutes: McCarthy, Stephens, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Manning, Wellington, Grønnbæk, Dibling, Archer.
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How will Chelsea line up without injured defender Trevoh Chalobah?
Could Southampton make changes after their defeat to Brighton?
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Two out-of-form sides meet in the Premier League tonight as Chelsea host rock-bottom Southampton.
The Blues have suffered three consecutive defeats in all competitions and have won only two league games since Christmas.
It leaves Enzo Maresca's side's aims for Champions League qualification in the balance - but victory tonight could see them move into the top four.
Despite their poor recent run, the west Londoners will be heavy favourites against basement boys Southampton, who are 13 points adrift of safety.
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With 12 games to go, nine-point Saints are aiming to avoid setting the lowest-ever Premier League points total, which is held by Derby (11 points) in 2007/08.
Ivan Juric's side will be buoyed they can surpass that this evening with the club's last trip to Stamford Bridge seeing them win 1-0 in February 2023.
Will Saints shock Chelsea? Or can the home side reignite their Champions League qualification hopes?
We'll bring you all the build-up, including the all-important team news at 7pm, with kick-off at 8.15pm.
Stay tuned...
Chelsea fans protest against ownership ahead of Southampton clash
Sky Sports News' Gary Cotterill captured the scenes of fans demonstrating about the Chelsea ownership at Bovril Gate outside Stamford Bridge tonight.
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Duo missing for Southampton's trip to Chelsea
Southampton will be without centre-back Jan Bednarek and midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu for their trip to Chelsea.
Bednarek suffered a first-half injury in the loss to Brighton on Saturday, while Ugochukwu will be ineligible to face his parent club.
The latter's absence offers another opportunity for Flynn Downes, who has struggled for game time under Ivan Juric, while Taylor Harwood-Bellis is likely to be fit enough for a place on the bench.
WATCH: Maresca backs Jorgensen as No.1: 'He recognises the mistake... nothing's changed'
Maresca 'not concerned' by Palmer form
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said his side's over-reliance on Cole Palmer could be affecting the England forward's form after his goalless streak extended to six games in Saturday's defeat to Aston Villa.
The 22-year-old remains the club's leading scorer this season with 14 but he has not netted since the draw against Bournemouth on January 14 while his last assist came 13 matches ago.
Chelsea have dropped from second in the Premier League to seventh during a run of two wins from 10 games and face being squeezed out of the race to qualify for the Champions League if results do not improve.
Palmer was visibly frustrated with his team-mates at Villa Park, in particular at one point with Christopher Nkunku, and his increasingly despondent body language during the team's poor run has been a cause for concern.
The former Manchester City player won admiration when things were going well for his unencumbered, laid back style on the pitch and laconic approach to the media but it is a disposition that has worn less well on the team's barren streak.
"I'm not concerned," said Maresca. "I'm always concerned about general performances, but I'm not concerned about Cole because he is a human being. During the season he can have some moments where he is struggling a little bit more.
"The problem with Cole is probably that we rely on him for everything. I said since we started that we need to rely on the team. For sure we need big players, top players like Cole but we are not worried about him at all."
Maresca wary of 'tricky' Saints clash
Sky Sports News' Gary Coterill at Cobham:
Enzo Maresca says his team "needs a win" but stopped short of calling Southampton at home a ‘must win’ game.
In fact, he appeared to try to control fan expectation by calling the fixture, against the worst team in the Premier League "tricky".
After just two wins in the last ten in the Premier League, and 3 months after winning 5-1 at St Mary’s, you might expect Maresca to be talking up his team's chances at Stamford Bridge tomorrow night. But no. Not a bit of it.
“It’s a complicated team. It’s a tricky one. Against Manchester United away they were winning 1-0, then in the last 5 minutes United beat them”.
That was a late come back for United. How Chelsea could do with a few of those.
Since Boxing Day they’ve dropped 13 points from winning positions.
Maresca knows that. But has no idea why!
“I don’t have an answer to that. Sometimes it’s football. Sometimes there is a reason behind it. We are trying to understand it a little bit."
Chelsea lost three points from a winning position at Villa Park on Saturday, of course.
Partly due to a Filip Jorgensen goalkeeping error. And partly due to a good late chance missed by Cole Palmer.
Maresca though isn’t playing the blame game. He’s backing both.
He’s sticking with Jorgensen as his number one ahead of Robert Sanchez.
“Yeah. Sure. We need to change a player every time we make a mistake," he joked about Jorgensen.
And, on Palmer, who’s now not scored in six games, he said: “His performance reflects the team performance. We rely on him too much."
Maresca was happy with the way his team played at Villa Park, if not the result. It was a big improvement on the embarrassment at Brighton.
He was also pleased with the way his tweaks to the formation worked too, calling Pedro Neto up top a “good option" and praising Reece James’ midfield performance as “very good”.
When Chelsea thrashed Southampton on December 1st, the away fans sang “we’ve got our Chelsea back”.
A similar performance tomorrow might go some way to winning the supporters over again.
And might even put Chelsea back in the top 4, where Maresca still believes they belong.
Maresca 'unconcerned' about Palmer's form
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says he's unconcerned about Cole Palmer's current form, but admits his side do have a tendency to rely on the England midfielder.