Chelsea vs Southampton: Sarri to give this player a start

The Blues recorded their first back-to-back victory in recent weeks as they defeated Crystal Palace on Sunday, thanks to N’Golo Kante’s wonderful goal.

They will be hoping to make it three straight wins when they tackle Southampton at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues are comfortably sitting in the fourth position with a five-point gap ahead of their closest rivals Arsenal in the race for a place in next year’s Champions League competition.

Sarri could be forced to feature Alvaro Morata from the start due to the current injury crises facing his team.

The Italian manager saw his centre-forward Olivier Giroud got injured in Sunday’s win at the Selhurst Park and he’s tipped to hand the Spanish forward a lifeline to reinvigorate his Chelsea career

CHELSEA PREDICTED LINE-UP

Arrizabalaga had a quiet night on Sunday as the Eagles strikers failed to test the former Atletico Bilbao shot-stopper.

• Palace or Rangers, Liverpool striker must decide his future ASAP

The 24-year-old goalkeeper is definitely going to start against the saints and when would hope to keep another clean sheet.

Defenders

I don’t see Sarri changing his defensive setup against Southampton. The manager seems happy with the performance has seen from his defenders against Crystal Palace and he’s certain to name all of them – Luiz, Alonso, Azpilicueta and Rudiger — in his starting lineup.

Midfielders

Kante and Jorginho are sure starters as they remain untouchables in Sarri’s team.

As long as both players are fit and in perfect condition, I don’t see Sarri dropping them for any reason in the world.

Ross Barkley who was given a rare start against the Selhurst Park outfits on Sunday could be dropped to the bench in favor of Matteo Kovacic.

The Real Madrid loanee was a second-half substitute on Sunday but he could regain his place in the first XI.

Attack

As a result of the injuries to some fringe players, Eden Hazard and Willian are likely to start, even if it means they are being overused by the Italian manager.

Both wingers have been super-present in Sarri’s team since the start of the season and they truly deserve to be rested.

With Sarri’s lack of trust in Victor Moses’ ability and the injury to Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi, the Italian manager has no option but to continue with Willian and Hazard on Wednesday.

As said earlier, Morata completes the attacking frontline line as result of Giroud’s ankle injury.