Chelsea host struggling Southampton in Boxing Day clash

Frank Lampard’s young Blues will host Southampton on Boxing Day with the Blues looking to gain all three points to carry on their top four push.

Both teams go into this fixture after winning their last Premier League match.

The Blues were able to beat their London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium enabling the Blues to hold onto their place in the top four.

The Saints cruised to a 3-1 victory against Aston Villa and were able to lift themselves from the bottom three, but are only above Villa by three points.

Team news

Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta will be assessed after coming off with a hamstring strain at Tottenham.

Head coach Frank Lampard says the rest of his squad have “a couple of bumps and bruises” that will also be monitored ahead of the Boxing Day game.

Southampton’s Moussa Djenepo’s remains out with a hamstring injury, and Shane Long is a doubt with a knee injury.

Kevin Danso has recovered from illness and Sofiane Boufal could return after missing two games with a toe problem.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard provided an injury update, discussed his use of the 3-4-3 formation and underlined the importance of sticking by his young players:

“As footballers we have a lot of benefits in this life, and this is one of the periods where you have to sacrifice a bit of family time,” said Lampard.

“The lads will train this morning, the lads will train tomorrow morning and we’ll be in a hotel in an evening before the match, and prepare as we would do.

“The points on offer over this busy period when they come thick and fast are important to us, we know that, so we’ll do everything right in our preparation.

“We need to, particularly on the back of the few games before Tottenham, show another side to our game. Can we get our home form where we want it to be against Southampton?”

Southampton boss Raplh Hassenhuettl spoke out about the potential of buying new players in the January transfer window:

“We will be active (in January), that’s for sure,” Hasenhuettl told reporters ahead of Thursday’s league trip to Chelsea. “We had issues in the summer – the balance of the team is not 100% what it should be.

“We have a few positions where we have a lot of alternatives and other positions, we don’t have any. This is not healthy when we have suspensions or injuries.

“The problem is the (transfer) fee for Premier League clubs is always very high,” said Hasenhuettl, adding: “We will try to bring two guys in.”

Head-to-head

Chelsea have won eight of the last nine meetings between the teams, but were held to a goalless draw in the corresponding fixture last season.