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2021/22 English Premier League
Matchday 32
Southampton v Chelsea
St Mary's Stadium
Southampton, England
Saturday, 9 April 2022
Kick-off is at 16h00
Chelsea will target a return to winning ways when they travel to the south coast for a
Premier League meeting with Southampton on Saturday, April 9.
The Blues suffered a surprise 4-1 derby defeat to Brentford at Stamford Bridge last weekend, which halted a run of five straight wins.
Thomas Tuchel's side are still favourites to finish third in the table as they sit five points clear of neighbours Tottenham with a game in hand.
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Tuchel admits the result against the Bees came as a surprise to him and the players after Antonio Rudiger had given them a 48th-minute lead, but he doesn't intend to make any knee-jerk reactions.
"We didn't see it coming really, and also not within the match, which is maybe the problem. I didn't see it coming and the players didn't see it coming so I'm involved in it," the German tactician said.
"We do what we do, we don't need special things now. We need to rely on the things and the trust that we built throughout the whole year.
"Now we need to do our stuff better, on a higher level, more committed, more mature and we cannot lose concentration for a minute because you can get punished for that in the strongest league. It's very untypical for us but it happened on Saturday."
Ralph Hasenhuttl's charges are in danger of seeing a promising season taper out after a 1-1 draw with Leeds at Elland Road on the weekend extended their winless streak to four matches.
The Saints are on course to improve on the 15th place and 43 points they achieved last term as goal difference is all that's keeping them out of the top half of the table at the moment.
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Hasenhuttl was more than happy to settle for a point in West Yorkshire given the fact that they were up against it after going 1-0 down on the half-hour mark.
"We will take a point but in the end when you're one down after 30 minutes, it's not so easy to come back here. The atmosphere was good and we were resistant and this is good," he said.
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Southampton - 1
Chelsea - 2
Draws - 2
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