Southampton’s roller coaster ride in the Premier League (PL) has already fetched them four losses in seven. Two of those have come at home (D1), and worryingly, Southampton has just three clean sheets from 22 PL home games since the start of last season, and none this year.
However, Southampton has managed to score in each of their last 17 PL home fixtures – albeit keeping just one clean sheet in the process. Regardless, each of their six PL results this season (wins/losses) was won by the side that scored the opening goal.
Chelsea has recovered from a horror start to the PL season at Old Trafford, stitching together a W3, D2, L1 run. Each of their three PL away games this season has produced over 3.5 total goals, with the ‘Blues’ winning the last two matches in that sequence – scoring eight combined, whilst conceding twice both times.
That is on expected lines, as Chelsea have already conceded 27 PL away goals this calendar year, with only Watford conceding more (33).
Intriguingly, even in such high scoring games, the first-scorer advantage holds strong – all five winners in Chelsea’s PL games this season have opened the scoring. Furthermore, a majority of those opening goals (three) have arrived within the first 20 minutes.
Players to watch: Five of Danny Ings’ six Southampton goals in the PL have come against last season’s top six, including two this campaign. Meanwhile, Tammy Abraham has seven PL goals this season, giving or extending Chelsea’s lead every time.
Stat attack: Three of Southampton’s seven PL games were goalless at the break.
Southampton is yet to score a PL goal in the first 30 minutes of play this season.
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