Chelsea go into their midweek Premier League clash against Southampton full of confidence due to recent results and performances, but they may now have another reason for a confidence boost ahead of Wednesday night’s clash.
The Blues came out as 3-0 winners over Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon in what was a dominant display. It extended Enzo Maresca’s side's unbeaten run in all competitions to six games.
Chelsea will go into the match at St Mary’s as favourites with the newly-promoted side rock bottom of the table, having won just one of their 13 league games so far this season. The Saints drew 1-1 with Brighton in their last outing on Friday night.
Maresca will know his opponents well, having been in a promotion race with them while with Leicester City last season. It seems that the now Chelsea boss knows how to brush aside Russell Martin’s team.
In the two meetings between Leicester and Southampton last season, Maresca’s men came out as 4-1 and 5-0 winners. Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall also got an assist in both games, although he has found game time hard to come by since his move to Chelsea in the summer.
The two big wins indicate that Maresca’s clear style works well against a similar style used by Martin’s team. The Southampton boss is known for sticking to his principles, so is not likely to change his approach.
Ahead of the game, Martin has praised Chelsea for moving for Maresca in the summer. “I think Enzo’s done a great job,” he said via the Southern Daily Echo .
“I’ve got a lot of respect for him and what he did at Leicester last season. I’m really pleased for him that a club as big as Chelsea has recognised the work he did in the Championship and given him the credit because they were brilliant.
“I think sometimes the hardest thing for a coach to do is to take another team and make it his own and look very similar in such quick time, which he’s done. He has a really talented group of players, for sure, but he’s managed to get them to buy into his way of doing things his way of working and his way of playing.
“They are really starting to click into gear and get into flow a bit. Against Aston Villa on the weekend, they were excellent, really outstanding.”
Southampton do have some absences for the match at St Mary’s. Key duo Tyler Dibling, Flynn Downes and Taylor Harwood-Bellis will all miss the match through suspension. Chelsea loanee Lesley Ugochukwu will also not be eligible to face his former club.
At the end of last season, Leicester finished 10 points above Southampton in the final league table. The Foxes lifted the title, while the Saints earned promotion via the play-offs.
Seeing how dominant a Maresca side was against his own team twice last season may mean that Southampton and Martin approach the game with a bit of trepidation. It should also provide Chelsea with another confidence boost ahead of the match.
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