Chelsea v Southampton LIVE: Score and updates as Blues face must-win Premier League clash

Chelsea take on Southampton at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League tonight, with the home side looking to restart their challenge for Champions League football.

Enzo Maresca’s side sit seventh ahead of the midweek fixtures, with three defeats in their last five matches meaning they’ve slipped from the second spot they occupied in December. But the Blues are just one point behind fourth-placed Manchester City as it stands, with a win tonight taking them back above the Cityzens, who play Spurs tomorrow.

Chelsea face a struggling Southampton side who have earned just nine points so far this season, with last weekend’s 4-0 defeat to Brighton the latest in a string go bruising results. The Saints are currently 13 points behind 17th-placed Wolves with just 12 games left, and Ivan Juric knows that they need to start picking up points immediately if they’re to have any chance of surviving.

Follow all the latest updates from Stamford Bridge here:

Chelsea vs Southampton LIVE

• Chelsea face Southampton in the Premier League | Live on TNT Sports

• The Blues fell to seventh place after last week’s loss to Villa

• Southampton are bottom of the league with just nine points so far

• Chelsea XI: Jorgensen; Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Palmer, Nkunku, Sancho; Neto

• Southampton XI: Ramsdale; Sugawara, Bree, Bella-Kotchap, Walker-Peters; Aribo, Smallbone, Downes; Fernandes, Onuachu, Sulemana

Chelsea FC 0 – 0 Southampton FC

Chelsea 0-0 Southampton, 12 mins

20:28 , Luke Baker

Good work by Downes who lunges and intercepts a ball into the box that was heading for Cucurella, who could have struck at gaol

Chelsea 0-0 Southampton, 9 mins

20:26 , Luke Baker

Southampton starting to come into this. Nice clipped cross by Bree towards Onuachu but Colwill leaps really well to flick it away. Onuachu had a free header at goal if he missed that.

At the other end, Sancho whips in a brilliant ball but there’s no Chelsea player attacking the space in the box. The downside to lacking a true No 9, dare I say.

Chelsea 0-0 Southampton, 6 mins

20:23 , Luke Baker

Good pace by Sulemana down the Southampton left as he narrowly outpaces Tosin.

Sulemana trying to get his body across the Chelsea centre-back to draw the foul but he uses his strength to muscle the Saints man off the ball legally. Good defending

Chelsea 0-0 Southampton, 5 mins

20:21 , Luke Baker

A ball through the middle almost frees Fernandez but Bree covers well and nips it away from the Argentine World Cup winner.

Possession has been all Chelsea’s so far but they’re yet to create anything of note.

Chelsea 0-0 Southampton, 2 mins

20:18 , Luke Baker

An early foul by Smallbone in the middle of the park – Southampton will want to be physical today.

Neto is starting in the No 9 position for Chelsea with Nkunku and Sancho on the wings, giving Palmer freedom to roam in the middle of the park

KICK-OFF! Chelsea 0-0 Southampton

20:16 , Luke Baker

Underway at Stamford Bridge. Simply a must-win game for Chelsea.

Chelsea v Southampton

20:08 , Luke Baker

Not long until kick-off now – will Chelsea get the win they so desperately need?

Can Southampton survive?

20:00 , Chris Wilson

Though the Saints haven’t mathematically been relegated yet, their current form suggests that they will go down bottom of the league.

For a short while, Juric’s side were on track to equal – or do worse than – the league’s record lowest points total – Derby County with 11 points in 2007/08.

Southampton currently sit on nine points, with 12 games left to play, although they did win one of their last five games – a 2-1 victory over Ipswich.

Unfortunately, the Saints need to make up 13 points on Wolves to avoid relegation, which looks extremely unlikely.

In fact, it is arguably more likely that they equal the record points low rather than survive, though fixtures against Wolves and Leicester are vital chances to pick up points.

Match facts

19:55 , Chris Wilson

Southampton won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in their last Premier League campaign of 2022-23 – they’ve not won consecutive away league games against Chelsea since March 1985.

Following a 19-game winless run away from home in the Premier League (D4 L15), the Saints won 2-1 at Ipswich in their last match on the road. They’ve not won consecutively away from home in the division since June 2020.

However, Southampton have now conceded at least 60 goals in each of their last six Premier League campaigns. They’re only the second side to ever do so in the competition, after Bournemouth (2015-16 to 2023-24).

The fight for survival

19:50 , Chris Wilson

At the other end of the table, Southampton are still fighting for survival, but their hopes are fading fast.

The Saints have earned just nine points so far this season – the bottom four looks like this ahead of kick-off:

17th – Wolves – 22pts

18th – Ipswich – 17pts

19th – Leicester City – 17pts

20th – Southampton – 9pts

Head-to-head

19:45 , Chris Wilson

These two sides have met 85 times in the past, with Chelsea winning 41 matches Southampton winning 22, and another 22 ending as draws.

The last time these teams met was in December, when Chelsea ran out 5-1 winners at St Mary’s.

The race for top four

19:40 , Chris Wilson

Ahead of this week’s fixtures, Chelsea sit in seventh, though they are only a point behind fourth-placed Manchester City in the race for Champions League places.

City, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Villa are the other sides competing for a place, and the table looks like this ahead of kick-off:

4th – Manchester City – 44pts

5th – Newcastle – 44pts

6th – Bournemouth – 43pts

7th – Chelsea – 43pts

8th – Aston Villa – 42pts

Will the Premier League get an extra Champions League spot next season?

19:30 , Chris Wilson

An important factor in the race for the top four…

The race for the top four in the Premier League is often one of the most intriguing parts of the season as teams battle to qualify for the Champions League.

A place in Europe’s top club competition has long been the main reward for sides finishing second to fourth, but Champions League qualification could now include whichever team finishes in fifth in the 2024/25 season.

The Premier League is currently leading the race for one of the two ‘bonus’ spots that Uefa now award in the expanded Champions League format.

Uefa gives the two extra places to the domestic leagues who perform the best in European competition this season, and it means that the English top-flight could see up to seven teams taking part in the Champions League next season.

Will the Premier League get an extra Champions League spot in 2025?

Enzo Maresca ‘not concerned’ by Cole Palmer body language during Chelsea slump

19:20 , Chris Wilson

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said his side’s over-reliance on Cole Palmer could be affecting the England forward’s form after his goalless streak extended to six games in Saturday’s defeat to Aston Villa.

The 22-year-old remains the club’s leading scorer this season with 14 but he has not netted since the draw against Bournemouth on January 14 while his last assist came 13 matches ago.

Chelsea have dropped from second in the Premier League to seventh during a run of two wins from 10 games and face being squeezed out of the race to qualify for the Champions League if results do not improve.

Enzo Maresca ‘not concerned’ by Cole Palmer body language during Chelsea slump

Chelsea vs Southampton team news

19:14 , Luke Baker

Pedro Neto retains his place in the Chelsea XI after impressing last time out and could continue as the makeshift No 9 although Christopher Nkunku is another option in that position.

Jadon Sancho also starts while Filip Jorgensen stays between the sticks, as promised by Enzo Maresca, despite his game-losing howler against Aston Villa.

Highly-rated Tyler Dibling is on the bench for Southampton, as are Cameron Archer and Welington, giving them potential options to change the game.

That’s because Kamaldeen Sulemana, Paul Onuachu and Mateus Fernades all start in the attacking areas.

Chelsea XI: Jorgensen; Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Palmer, Nkunku, Sancho; Neto

Southampton XI: Ramsdale; Sugawara, Bree, Bella-Kotchap, Walker-Peters; Aribo, Smallbone, Downes; Fernandes, Onuachu, Sulemana

Chelsea vs Southampton team news

19:02 , Luke Baker

Here’s how the two teams line up today

Line-ups

18:55 , Chris Wilson

The line-ups should be released in around five minutes, so here’s a reminder of the early team news…

Enzo Maresca confirmed that Trevoh Chalobah will be out for between seven and 10 days after being forced off against Villa.

There were no additional injury concerns, with Nicolas Jackson, Wesley Fofana, Noni Madueke, Marc Guiu and Romeo Lavia the long-term absentees.

For Southampton, Jan Bednarek is the only new injury concern from the loss to Brighton, and the club are awaiting a scan to determine the extent of his issue.

Lesley Ugochukwu will be unavailable to face his parent club, while Adam Lallana and Taylor Harwood-Bellis remain out until March and there are no concrete return dates for Ryan Fraser and Ross Stewart.

Enzo Maresca confirms first-choice Chelsea goalkeeper after Filip Jorgensen howler

18:50 , Chris Wilson

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Filip Jorgensen will remain his first-choice goalkeeper despite the 22-year-old’s costly mistakein the 2-1 loss to Aston Villa.

Jorgensen allowed Marco Asensio’s volley to creep under him in the 89th minute at Villa Park to give Villa a comeback win, with the visitors having been 1-0 up courtesy of Enzo Fernandez’s strike.

During a press conference on Monday morning, before the midweek clash with Southampton, Maresca was asked if the error had changed his thinking regarding who his first-choice keeper was.

Enzo Maresca confirms first-choice Chelsea goalkeeper after Jorgensen howler

Chelsea’s goalkeeping woes continue as Aston Villa grab late win

18:40 , Chris Wilson

On Chelsea’s loss at the weekend…

Filip Jorgensen’s late howler in the Chelsea goal handed Aston Villa a Champions League qualification lifeline as they won 2-1 at Villa Park.

The Blues’ goalkeeping problems continued as Jorgensen inexplicably let Marcos Asensio’s saveable shot straight through his grasp in the 89th minute to give Villa a vital three points in the race for the top four.

Unai Emery’s men looked like falling short and…