Chelsea v Southampton Betting Tips: Conte’s men to move one step closer

Tuesday’s Premier League match sees title contenders Chelsea host Southampton, who are destined to finish mid-table but will want to ensure they put on a good display at Stamford Bridge.

Despite being under pressure for most of the second half, Chelsea managed to get the better of Premier League title rivals Tottenham Hotspur to reach the FA Cup final and thus give themselves a decent chance of winning the double. However, they are only four points ahead of Spurs in the title race and so this match against Southampton is a must-win.

Although they can certainly score a few goals, Antonio Conte’s men are not really known for their goal-scoring exploits. Instead they are known for their defensive solidity. However, Saturday’s match, in which they scored four against the best defence in the league, showed that they are incredibly capable of scoring plenty of goals. Even though they conceded two, it is worth noting that Chelsea were never behind in that match and are probably the best team in England at soaking up pressure before hitting teams on the break.

The Blues had a little wobble a few weeks back as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace. However, they have proved that it was just that, a wobble, by winning their last match against top four hopefuls Manchester City.

Southampton’s three-match unbeaten run came to a rather dramatic end last time out as they lost 3-0 at home to Manchester City. They are currently in 9th spot and, although some would argue that a top ten finish is something to play for, Southampton know their season is pretty much over.

Defensive solidity has been the foundation for the Saints’ relative success this campaign and, in that aforementioned three-match unbeaten run, they conceded just one goal. Furthermore, they have conceded just 40 goals all season – fewer than any team below them. Although they managed to score three against Crystal Palace a couple of weeks back, goal-scoring has been a problem for Southampton with just 37 all season – the joint-worst record in the top ten. Furthermore, their joint top goalscorers are Charlie Austin and Nathan Redmond with just six each. Charlie Austin will miss the match against Chelsea so goals may be hard to come by for them here.

Claude Puel’s side have been very inconsistent on their travels of late with their last seven away results in all competitions reading W,L,W,L,W,L,W. Southampton are quite solid at the back on their travels in the league with a clean sheet ratio of 31%, however, they have also found the back of the net just 20 times on the road.

Chelsea are the favourites here and with good reason. It’s hard to imagine Southampton putting up too much of a challenge for the title contenders. However, they will look to defend which Chelsea could find difficult to break down. With the hosts not being the biggest scorers, ‘Chelsea to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ looks the best option.

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