Chelsea vs Southampton: total over corners in the first half

One more time Chelsea will host Southampton at the home venue. This time the teams will face each other in the EFL Cup 1/8 finals. Will the Saints perform better in defence?

Chelsea continue to shock their opponents. Last weekend Thomas Tuchel’s side played against Norwich City. The Blues didn’t face any resistance from the outsider and registered another easy win in the English Premier League - 7:0. Chelsea are leading in the tournament’s table. The Blues conceded only 3 goals in their 9 matches. In the previous stage of the EFL Cup Chelsea were able to beat Aston Villa in the penalties.

Southampton showed some decent progress in their last two games in the English Premier League. Firstly the Saints came over Leeds United with the minimum advantage 1:0. Then Ralf Hasenhüttl’s team played a draw with Burnley - 2:2. With 8 points in their bag Southampton are in 16 place in the EPL table. In the previous round of the EFL Cup the Saints beated Sheffield United in the penalties.

Chelsea and Southampton met this season early in October in the English Premier League. The Saints looked very solid at Stamford Bridge but couldn’t play safe at the late stage of that game - 3:1 win for Tuchel’s team. Overall Chelsea and Southampton met in 107 matches - 47:29 is the advantage for the Blues by wins.

• Chelsea didn’t concede a goal in their last 3 games in all tournaments;
• Chelsea scored a first goal in 8 of their last 10 games in all competitions;
• Chelsea won a first half in 4 of their last 5 games in all tournaments;
• Southampton concede a first goal in 4 of their last 5 games in all competitions;
• Bet both teams to score was profitable in 4 of last 5 games between Chelsea and Southampton in all competitions.

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Sarr, Alonso, Saul, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley, Ziyech, Havetz, Hudson-Odoi.

Southampton: Forster, Valery, Lyanco, Salisu, Perraud, Walcott, Romeu, Diallo, Tella, Redmond, Adams.

Chelsea: Werner, Lukaku, Kante, Pulisic (last two - doubtful)

Southampton: Stephens, Elyounoussi, Ward-Prowse, Broja

Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku are yet to be fully recovered. This is another game for the Blues without their two main strikers. But as we saw Thomas Tuchel can easily change the tactics and play really high scoring football even without a clear “number 9” - 7:0 win against Norwich City. Both teams are expected to play with their reserve squads, but undoubtedly Chelsea’s bench representatives are far ahead of the opponents in terms of quality. I expect another game with Chelsea’s dominance and many corners befort the halftime. My main prediction for the upcoming match - corners total over 4,5 in the first half.

• Corners TO 4.5 in the 1st half for 1.82;
• W1 and TO 1.5 goals for 1.80;
• W1 in the 1st half for 1.90