Southampton V Chelsea The Preview Tuesday, 30th Aug 2022 13:31 Saints take on Chelsea at St Mary's this evening, looking to build on the last few games and move themselves up the table, what will Ralph Hasenhuttl have up his sleeve. With 3 games in a week Ralph Hasenhuttl might be considering a change or two from the team that started against Manchester United, I would certainly think that Stuart Adams could be one of the players coming in with Moi Elyounoussi being the one to make way. Another starter could be Sekou Mara who could replace anyone of three of the attacking players, Joe Aribo, Adam Armstrong or even Che Adams could be rested to bring Mara into the side.
Out of the three I thought Adam Armstrong had the best game against United and would be the one would have the most reason to be aggrieved, however I think he is the more likely to be the one to make way. A third potential change could be Romain Perraud at left back, although Djenepo had a decent game on Saturday going forward, he is not a natural left back and positionally he is learning on the job, it will be harsh on Djenepo but I can see the benefit of having a dedicated left back in against a team like Chelsea.
Other than these three changes it is hard to see any change Ralph could make that would enhance the side and he will want it to continue the progress it has made, despite the result it was probably a better all round team performance against United than in any of the previous three fixtures this season, the youngsters are learning with every game. Ralph praised his youngsters in the pre match briefing: “With the ball they’re so confident and willing to show some good things, sometimes against the ball where you have to be disciplined in our shape, this is something they have to learn. “They’re very, very open minded and are learning very quick. It’s good to see. Quality and youth is a good combination for getting better. “When you’re open minded then it’s good for us, the whole staff group, to work with them."
Chelsea for their part have not started the season as well as they hoped they would, they scraped a 1-0 win at Everton, followed by a draw with Spurs in a game that they should have put to bed long before Harry Kane's 90+6 minute equaliser. Leeds steamrollered them 3-0 at Elland Road in their 3rd game and last time out they struggled to beat Leicester 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, although in fairness they had Conor Gallagher sent off after only 28 minutes and still won despite playing for an hour with only 10 men. So this won't be an easy evening for Saints, in truth it will be hard to get a result and there is of course the shambolic performance back in April when we capitulated to a 6-0 home defeat which could have been far worse.
Hopefully Ralph has learnt a lesson from that day and will set up as he has done in the last few games with a solid back four, certainly As Ralph has said this is a young squad, it is learning as it goes along, but there are plenty of signs that it can be a good squad, it is pleasing that 5 of the 6 signings made in the summer have shown that they can play at this level already and they will only get better as the season goes on, we have to be patient in what the club is doing, it was never going to be an easy start but we are up and running, a defeat tonight would be disappointing, but it is really about the bigger picture going forward. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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