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Chelsea logo
Premier League
Mar 15, 2015 at 1.30pm UK
 
Southampton logo

1-1

Costa (11')
FT(HT: 1-1)
Tadic (19' pen.)

Preview: Chelsea vs. Southampton

Sports Mole previews the Premier League contest between leaders Chelsea and Southampton.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has indicated that he won't have a problem motivating his players ahead of their game with Southampton on Sunday afternoon.

Mourinho witnessed his side toil for 120 minutes on Wednesday night as they suffered elimination from the Champions League on away goals to Paris Saint-Germain, but the Portuguese has revealed that everyone is keen to be involved at the weekend.

Other than the injured John Obi Mikel, Mourinho has a fully-fit squad to choose from but he could make alterations, with Filipe Luis, Willian and potentially Didier Drogba in contention to start at Stamford Bridge.

Despite goals proving a problem in recent weeks, Chelsea are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions, while they haven't suffered a Premier League loss since New Year's Day.

Southampton boss Ronald Koeman has seen his side lose ground on a top-four place, but the Dutch coach knows that they are still well placed to make a bid for a European place at the end of the campaign.

A morale-boosting win over Crystal Palace at the start of March has left the Saints in seventh place, four points off fourth, and a positive result in West London could kick-start a run until the end of the season.

Koeman is able to hand a start to on-loan defender Toby Alderweireld after his recovery from a hamstring injury picked up in January.

However, Graziano Pelle's place remains in doubt with the Italian forward currently on a run of just one goal in his last 14 games.

Chelsea:

Form in Premier League: WDWWDW
Form in all competitions: WDDWWD

Possible starting lineup: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis; Ramires, Matic; Cuadrado, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa

Southampton:

Recent form: LWDLLW

Possible starting lineup: Forster; Clyne, Fonte, Alderweireld, Bertrand; Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Djuricic, Elia, Mane; Pelle

Sports Mole says: 2-1


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Darren Plant
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An assortment of Chelsea players celebrate Branislav Ivanovic's opener against PSG on February 17, 2015
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4Chelsea29147853371649
5Manchester CityMan City29146955401548
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8Fulham2912984338545
9Aston Villa2912984145-445
10Bournemouth29128948361244
11Brentford29125125045541
12Crystal Palace2810993633339
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14Tottenham HotspurSpurs291041555431234
15Everton2971393236-434
16West Ham UnitedWest Ham2997133349-1634
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves2975174058-1826
18Ipswich TownIpswich2938182862-3417
19Leicester CityLeicester2945202565-4017
20Southampton2923242170-499


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