Chelsea vs Southampton team news: Both set to be without key players

Southampton travel to South London on Saturday afternoon and will be looking to get their third Premier League win in a row against Chelsea.

Recent victories over Burnley and West Brom have boosted Saints after a sluggish start to the season and they now look to be replicating form closer to the performances they put in at the end of 2019/20.

Meeting Chelsea this time around though will test exactly where Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team are at and it looks like the Austrian will have to do without a couple of key men.

Speaking to the media about his team news, Hasenhuttl said:

"“With all the injuries we have in the number 10 position, with Stuey (Armstrong) out and Moussa (Djenepo) out, Theo (Walcott) has more chance to play on the weekend.“He (Armstrong) is ok so far – no big issues. He had to go in quarantine but the infection rate is not always the biggest issue in this case, especially for the younger lads.”"

Despite the positive news on Armstrong, the Scotland international will not be available this weekend because he can only return to training on Friday after 10 days of self-isolation.

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Moussa Djenepo also looks set to miss this game with a hamstring problem that he picked up in the first-half of the West Brom game – Hasenhuttl explaining that the club need to work with the player on his physical state to avoid fitness problems into the future.

Theo Walcott could, therefore, come in to start his first game back with the club with Nathan Redmond on the other flank and Will Smallbone and Nathan Tella providing options off the bench.

The Saints boss also confirmed that Ibrahima Diallo needs more time to train with the team before coming into contention, although Mohammed Salisu will be a lot closer to making his first Premier League appearance.

Although things have not quite clicked for Chelsea and Frank Lampard so far this campaign, they spent big during the summer transfer window in a bid to push themselves closer to the title fight in the Premier League.

This weekend they look set to be without goalkeeper Edouard Mendy after his withdrawal from the Senegal squad during the international break.

However, left-back Ben Chilwell could start despite his unavailability for England in the past two weeks and winger Hakim Ziyech will be in contention for his first competitive start for his new side (Chelsea team news via the Athletic.)