The Blues were going great after Conte decided to move to a 3-4-3 formation. They won against Leicester and United and were seen as favorites against West Ham as well. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be and now Chelsea have one less competition to focus on. It may be good news though as the Londoners are now just one point away from Arsenal and City who are involved in the Champions League and the EFL which means a game every 2-3 days. With a bit of luck and with Arsenal and Manchester City having to spread their resources very carefully, Chelsea could move to first place and knowing Conte, they could stay there until June.
The Blues need a win against Southampton to get their morale up and build on that before facing Spurs and City close to the beginning of December. With proper attention directed towards the fixtures and with full concentration, Chelsea should be able to win their 4th away game of the season. The Saints also have the Europa League to focus on especially after getting just one point from their last two games.
In terms of their squad Chelsea do not have Fabregas who is still out for one more week due to a thigh injury. Ivanovic is rumored to be ready to play but given the new formation he might be left on the bench. Cahill, Luiz and Azpilicueta form a strong defensive line especially when helped by Alonso, Matic, Kante and Moses.
Southampton will have to play without Long, Rodriguez and Targett who are all in recovery until the second half of November. Their biggest threat to Chelsea will be Austin who is currently the team’s best scorer with 4 goals up until now.
The Blues will count on Costa and Hazard who together have scored 11 goals and provided 2 assists. The Spaniard is most likely to score especially after being rested for most of the game against West Ham.
Conte insists it is early to think about the title but on the other hand what else are you thinking of when you have Chelsea written on your shirt? The Italian knows that there’s a long way until the end of the season and insists on keeping a cool head and also on improving with each game:
“There are five teams who are very close but we shouldn’t look at the table, we must be focused on our work on the pitch.
“It’s too early to talk about the table or the title. We must improve game by game and trust in the work, that’s the most important thing.” [Quotes sourced from the BBC].