
Matt
Le Tissier believes Chelsea can bounce back from the disappointment of their
Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain with victory over
Southampton on Sunday.
While the Sky Sports pundit will be hoping Ronald Koeman's men can enhance
their own top-four chances with a result at Stamford Bridge, he expects it
to be a difficult afternoon for his former club and has revealed what they
need to do if they are to have any chance of picking up a positive result
against the league leaders...
I would have preferred to see them to go through on Wednesday night as I
fear we could pay for it, them going out of the Champions League in such a
disappointing manner.
I would expect a big reaction. The have only got one trophy to go for now
and you’d expect them to be bang on it for all 11 games. Chelsea are not the
sort of team to panic and drop silly points.
Halt Hazard
I was at St Mary’s for the home game and the massive threat they had was
Eden Hazard, who was the best player on the pitch that day by some distance.
What he does, in terms of cutting in from the left, is fairly predictable
but it is much easier said than done stopping him.
Saints must take chances
A clean sheet is going to be difficult but our defence is the best part of
our team. We’ve had good possession in most games and we need to get the
runners working off Pelle and be brave.
You know that you’re going to get chances against Chelsea but you need to
take them.
Keep Costa calm
Not winding him up and keeping him calm might be the way to go. Getting that
fire burning seems to bring the best out of him. It’s also key for the
defenders not to get wound up and not be drawn into battles with him and
giving away penalties.
Be solid at set-pieces
Chelsea are a big physical team with a lot of height and we’ll have to match
them. Hopefully, the fact that they let in a couple will shake their
confidence.
Le Tiss predicts:
For the first time this season, I’m expecting a Saints defeat. Jose Mourinho
will have his men fired up and ready to respond to their Champions League
exit so I’m going for a 2-1 Chelsea win with Costa to score first.