Chelsea and Southampton will clash at Wembley Stadium on Sunday in the second FA Cup semi-final, a cup that could be regarded as a consolation prize for each of these two teams. The Blues have beaten the Saints in both Premier League matches this season, 1-0 at Stamford Bridge and 3-2 at St Mary's. In fact, Chelsea have won the last five direct matches against Southampton, who have not tasted victory against the Blues since a 3-1 triumph at Stamford Bridge in 2015.
Chelsea have failed to defend their Premier League title this season, they are very likely to finish outside the top four in the league table, and they have already crashed out of the Champions League, so the FA Cup could be the perfect opportunity to end an underwhelming campaign on a high note. Earlier this week the Blues secured a 2-1 victory at Burnley, but fourth-placed Tottenham are still five points ahead with just four league matches left in the season.
Southampton might say goodbye to the Premier League at the end of this season, they are currently in the relegation zone and Thursday's goalless draw at Leicester didn't help them too much. The Saints are four points behind 17th-placed Swansea but the Swans have a game in hand, so the chances of survival are quite slim for Southampton. They could make this a season to be remembered if they manage to win the FA Cup, but that looks quite unlikely as well since they have won just one of their last eight matches in all competitions. In truth, the Saints were quite lucky in the FA Cup because they have eliminated rather weak teams: Fulham, Watford, West Brom and Wigan.
Probable line-ups:
Chelsea: Courtois - Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill - Moses, Bakayoko, Fabregas, Emerson - Morata, Pedro - Giroud
Southampton: McCarthy - Bednarek, Yoshida, Hoedt - Soares, Hojbjerg, Romeu, Bertrand - Ward-Prowse, Tadic - Long
My prediction: Chelsea to win 2-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Chelsea win - 1.50
Draw - 4.50
Southampton win - 7.50
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Comments (1)
sharpe
04/23/18, 03:04:52 PM
Didn't saw the first half of this just the second in which Southampton were very unlucky not to score at least one goal and maybe even more. Chelsea are definitely...
Didn't saw the first half of this just the second in which Southampton were very unlucky not to score at least one goal and maybe even more. Chelsea are definitely the more capable side but the Saints played well and they could only hope that they will be so lucky in the PL as they've been unlucky here. Still a good chance for Southampton to avoid relegation after al the Swansea poor results lately they've got a decent chance.
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