History repeats itself
Chelsea were always going to be without N'Golo Kante for the trip to St Mary's to face Southampton. Conor Gallagher was ruled out too following his red card against Leicester City on Saturday. That left Thomas Tuchel with a midfield problem to solve given Mateo Kovacic is not yet able to play 90 minutes following his recovery from injury.
What Tuchel needed was the rest of his squad available. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Reece James was ruled out in the build-up to the game with an illness and was joined on the sidelines by Tevoh Chalobah. The centre-back was nursing a knock sustained at the weekend in a clash with Jamie Vardy.
