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Saints V Chelsea The Preview
Saturday, 27th Feb 2016 08:42

Saints take on Chelsea with the chance of a couple of club records being broken, but the focus has to be on taking all three points.

Chelsea have had a little bit of a revival of late, but the reality is that they still seem to have the ability to close off games and that unbeaten run that stretches in the Premier League back to mid December has not been spectaciular, in that there has only been 4 wins out of 12 games, 2 of them were against bottom 3 sides, a third against freefalling Crystal Palace with the sole notable victory against Arsenal.

They don't seem to be able to motivate themselves in the League as they do the Cup competitions where they seem to be concentrating their efforts now.

With big changes in the manager and the squad in the summer, they are looking to win a cup and have given up on the league and like our trip to Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, we have not had the chance to face a Chelsea side and beat them at St Mary's like this for many a year.

So Saints have to forget the records that can be smashed in terms of clean sheets and concentrate on putting Chelsea away and like the win at Stamford Bridge that needs to be done through hard work and endeavor. Chelsea have the ability, they have the players stiil, they just do not have the motivation and stomach for a fight in the Premier Leaggue this season.

They may still harbour a fleeting hope of dragging themselves up into the top five, but they know anything higher is not possible, their focus is elsewhere, they may have periods of the game where they are dominant, but if we keep things tight and stick to our game plan then we can impose ourselves on the game and weaken their resolve.

We have an important three match spell, to start it with a win would be a massive confidence booster, although this being the toughest of the trio, even a point would be a good start.

The problem is making sure we don't get complacent, our great run means that we now expect to win games and this is no different, but we have to make sure that confidence doesn't let that complacency seep in, we have to realise that hard work has got our season back on track and anything less will see our standards slip and cost us points as it did earlier in the season.

The reality though is that all runs have to end but we have to make sure ours just keeps going, as Chelsea have shown there is no reason why we should not extend this one quietly and confidently.

Again trying to second guess Ronald Koeman's team selection is difficult, he always seem to be able to change the line up and tactics and with a clean bill of health in the entire squad at the moment he has plenty of options to choose from and that will be vital as the season progresses so the return to contention of Wanyama from suspension and Rodriguez and Gardos to match fitness will be a timely boost.

But meanwhile we have a game to win and I'm sure that Ronald Koeman has something up his sleeve for this one and these days we have so many options that he is now able to use his vast football knowledge to full effect and he has.

So a massive game today, but all of them are, if we take all three points then we have taken a big leap forward, we have a focused aim now and that is fifth place.

Photo: Action Images



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IWOZTHERE added 09:18 - Feb 27
Hope we've got the 'scoring boots' on today cos I've got a feeling the 'clean sheet' run might end. Good strong start; Very important Romeu doesn't get an early yellow!
Just can't call this one but we should see a few goals.
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TimSaint added 09:52 - Feb 27
I think we will have a back 3, 5 in midfield and either 2 up top, or a forward with someone just behind. This should hopefully stem the Chelsea midfield and keep their possession down a little. Chelsea will have Costa as a lone striker, with 5 in midfield and 4 defenders.

Can see it being a tight encounter, but certainly one we can win, so i'm going for an optimistic 2-0 home win, with goals from Long and Mane.

Forster
Bertrand, VVD, Fonte
Targett, Romeu, Clasie, Davis, Cedric
Long, Mane

Pelle, Austin, Tadic, JWP, Yoshida, Martina, Stek

A team with PACE to exploit a dodgy Chelsea back 4 (shame snail paced Terry isn't playing) and plenty of option from the bench, to change formation or swap players - as Romeu as bound to get a yellow against his former employers, as he did at the bridge and iwozthere points out above.
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