Chelsea v Southampton

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea will be looking to close the gap on English Premier League leaders Arsenal when they host Southampton on Saturday.

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The Blues are third on the table, four points behind Arsene Wenger’s table-topping north Londoners, but should the Gunners slip up in their tricky fixture at Cardiff on the weekend then the gap between the two capital city clubs could be reduced to as little as one point.

Mourinho’s charges have been inconsistent this season having won well and lost terribly in both their Premier League and Champions League campaigns, with this last week proving to be emblematic of this trend with the west Londoners dispatching West Ham United 3-0 on Saturday only to lose 1-0 to European minnows FC Basle on Tuesday.

The enigmatic Portuguese tactician needs to get his team to perform according to his script consistently if they are going to challenge for the league title, but this week he will have to get his game plan to work without the services of David Luiz and Samuel Eto’o, as the duo are suffering from a bruised knee and a strained muscle respectively.

Spanish striker Fernando Torres may be close to a return as reports this week had the Spain international back at training, but there is no official word yet on when the 29-year-old will return to action.

Maurico Pochettino’s Saints have been punching above their weight bracket this season and they currently sit fifth on the table with 22 points just two points behind Chelsea, and while a trip to Stamford Bridge is intimidating, the Hampshire outfit will take confidence from the fact that they have only lost two fixtures this season thanks to a rock solid defence that could well frustrate the host’s stuttering strike force.

Dejan Lovren should have recovered from a bout of the flu in time for the weekend contest, but Luke Shaw is a doubt, while Jack Cork, Guly do Prado and Kelvin Davies will be unable to aid the visitors in their quest to steal a march on an unsettled London giant.

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