Chelsea vs. Southampton Betting Preview – EPL, October 17, 2020

Both Chelsea and Southampton have enjoyed a mixed start to the season and it will be interesting to see which set of players comes back from the international break in a better state of mind.

Chelsea spent a lot of money in the summer in a bid to finish in the top four. But it is games like this that it needs to be winning if that is to be achieved.

Although it is not a surprise that BetOnline has made Chelsea the favorite to win this one at Stamford Bridge, the odds for a draw or even an away win seem on the long side. That could entice more than a few people to put their faith in the intriguing project that Ralph Hasenhuttl is overseeing down on the south coast.

Frank Lampard will be pleased that the millions spent by the club over the summer seem to have been to good effect so far. A few more goals from Timo Werner would help, but Ben Chilwell looks like an excellent addition to the defense – and as a source of many of the attacking plays as well.

More worrying will be the results so far however. The defeat at home to Liverpool was not too bad but Lampard would have wanted to see more fight shown by his players. The draw with West Brom was almost a huge embarrassment though – and that kind of performance will surely not be permitted from now on.

After finishing last season so brightly, it was something of a surprise that Southampton ended up losing the first two games of this campaign – especially considering the opponents. But the players do look fully invested in everything that manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has planned for them – and that has paid off in the two games since.

The win against West Brom in the last game before the break should have been by a much bigger margin than just the two goals the Saints managed and it will be interesting to see whether new signing Ibrahima Diallo is given his debut on Saturday. He looked very lively in Ligue 1 last season for Brest and there are high hopes for him at his new club.

Although Kai Havertz has started his Chelsea career very well, Timo Werner is still bedding into the English Premier League and that has been disappointing for the Germany international. Southampton is not given much of a chance here by the bookies but if Danny Ings can continue to knock in the goals there must be a good chance of a draw.