Thomas Tuchel's numbers have been diminished for Chelsea's trip to Southampton, with Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah added to a list already, including Conor Gallagher and N'Golo Kante. The latter is out for several weeks with an injury he picked up against Tottenham, while Gallagher saw two yellow cards in quick succession in the opening have of Chelsea's win over Leicester.
James did not travel with the squad and has been ruled out of the clash through illness. The wing-back was influential against the Foxes and has started each one of Chelsea's matches so far this season. Chalobah, on the other hand, started his first match against Leicester as Thomas Tuchel opted for a back four during Kalidou Koulibaly's suspension.
Chalobah suffered a small knock at Stamford Bridge over the weekend and, as such, has not been included in the squad to face the Saints. Nevertheless, it appears Tuchel will keep faith with the back four system with Koulibaly returning to the centre of defence alongside Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta replacing James on the right.
READ MORE: Southampton vs Chelsea LIVE: Hakim Ziyech and Kalidou Koulibaly start, confirmed lineups
Tuchel said: "He's [James] sick unfortunately and could not travel. Trevoh Chalobah is injured from the match [on Saturday]. It's a tight squad. When you look at our upcoming schedule, see the game today and see the bench it's a bit worrying in terms of already having a lot of key players out and not available. A team on our level needs concurrence in the squad and needs everybody avaialble to push each other to the limit. Hopefully we will turn things around soon."
That means the Blues could be set for a midfield three of Jorginho, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount, and a start for Hakim Ziyech in a front three alongside Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz. Billy Gilmour and Harvey Vale have also been included in Chelsea's squad for the first time this season.
Chelsea: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Koulibaly, Cucurella; Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho; Mount, Ziyech, Sterling, Havertz
Chelsea substitutes: Kepa, Chilwell, Ampadu, Kovacic, Gilmour, Vale, Chukwuemeka, Pulisic, Broja
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