Chelsea host Southampton at The Bridge as nasty November gives way to a dandy December.
DATE & TIME: December 1, 2013 at 11:10 EST; December 1, 2013 at 16:10 GMT; December 1, 2013 at 17:10 WAT; December 1, 2013 at 18:10 CAT; December 1, 2013 at 19:10 EAT; December 1, 2013 at 21:40 IST.
VENUE: Stamford Bridge, London, United Kingdom.
TV/STREAMING NEWS: The match will be telecast live on Fox Sports 1 in Australia, SuperSport3 Africa in African sub-continent, TSN in Canada, Al Jazeera Sport HD1/HD6 in Egypt, TeleClub Sport in Germany, Star Sports 4 & Star Sports HD 2 in India, Fox Sports HD in Italy, J Sports 4 in Japan, Canal+ 1/HD/30 in Spain, Al Jazeera Sport HD1/HD6 in UAE, Sky Sports 1/HD in UK and NBC Sports Network in USA.
The match is also available online on Sky Go in Germany, Sky Go in UK and NBC Sports Live Extra in USA.
Chelsea TV and BBC Radio 5 Live will have live audio of the game.
CHELSEA FC SQUAD NEWS: Samuel Eto’o, who suffered from a muscular problem against Basel, alongside recuperating David Luiz and long-term absentee Marco van Ginkel will miss out the encounter.
Predicted Starting XI: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Mikel, Hazard, Mata, Schuerrle, Torres.
SOUTHAMPTON SQUAD NEWS: Mauricio Pochettino will miss a couple of players in Guly. Jack Cork is fit however. Dejan Lovren missed the game with Arsenal through injury but should be back in contention to replace Jos Hooiveld at the back.
Predicted Starting XI: Boruc, Clyne, Lovren, Fonte, Shaw, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse, Lallana, Rodriguez, Lambert.
REFEREE: Michael Oliver.
FORM INDEX: Chelsea – WWWLDW l Southampton – WDWDWL.
THOUGHTS FROM THE ENEMY: Pochettino has praised Jose Mourinho calling him one of the best managers in football. He also emphasized on how the Saints will continue to play the same kind of football which has helped them to the fifth position in the current league table, in spite of their defeat against Arsenal.
“We are going to continue playing the same way, we’re going to continue playing with the same philosophy, with the same idea of how we execute our football.”
FUN TRIVIA:
- Chelsea are undefeated in the last 15 home matches in the Premier League.
- Southampton and Chelsea have the two meanest defenses in the Premier League, conceding just 7 & 10 goals respectively, in 12 outings until now.
- Petr Cech will make his 450th start for the Blues. His next clean sheet will be his 150th in the Premier League.
- John Terry will make his 593rd appearance and will move ahead of John Hollins as our fourth all-time highest appearance maker.
IN A NUTSHELL: Southampton have been the surprise package of this season’s Premier League campaign. Chelsea did not display the tremendous form of October in the last month but Mourinho’s home record at Stamford Bridge is still untouchable. With two tricky away fixtures coming up in the following gameweeks, Chelsea must ensure full three points at SW6.
Predicted Starting XI: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, COLE, Ramires, Mikel, Hazard, Mata, Schuerrle, Torres.
He was baked when he wrote that
If this man used this player 2day you people get something 2 say why dont you leave him 2 do is jub er you coach
#Admin, thanks! You finally got the timing for WAT right!
Bring it on!! I agree it’s good to look beyond, to the good stuff, as well as reicletfng on the horrible bits. Looking forward to hearing more about your summer you make my feet itch