BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson is expecting Chelsea to record a comfortable win when they take on Southampton at St Mary’s tomorrow afternoon.

The two teams are in contrasting form heading into the Saturday lunchtime fixture and Lawrenson says he can only see one winner from the contest:

“Thomas Tuchel has made an excellent start as Chelsea manager. He has put together a nice little run of five straight wins in all competitions, and he has done it by, first and foremost, making them difficult to play against.”

“With six successive league defeats, Southampton are at the opposite end of the form table. They have not turned into a bad side, but they will be short of confidence and it hard to see them ending that run this weekend.”

Lawrenson has gone with a 2-0 win for Chelsea, which is a fair prediction, considering the winning streak which Thomas Tuchel’s side are currently on.

A word of caution, though. The Saints may have lost a lot of games recently but, other than that 9-0 defeat to Manchester United, they have been losing by the odd goal so don’t be surprised if this is a close game.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are known to press the ball high, and they will get off to a fast start. Considering Chelsea’s excellent defensive record recently, you’d expect them to weather any storm they may encounter before securing the points.