Southampton face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, and despite the daunting opposition, defeat is simply not an option for the manageress south coast club.
Having lost nine of their past ten matches in the top flight, resulting in the dismissal of a second permanent boss of the season in Nathan Jones, the Saints are now three points adrift at the bottom of the table, and further woes could aggravate the already wounded squad’s woes.
Despite reports that Jesse Marsch – recently dismissed from managerial duties with Leeds United – was poised to take to the dugout at St Mary’s, negotiations crumbled following a failure to agree on contract length, and interim boss Ruben Selles now takes the reins.
Against an expensively-assembled Chelsea side who desperately need a victory themselves as they sit stranded in tenth place after 22 matches, the Saints will hope to take advantage of their opponents’ own misfortunes.
The top-flight stragglers can take solace from the fact that they won the reverse fixture 2-1 in August, but they will need to rekindle their former verve if they are to defeat a side which was bolstered with roughly £288m worth of January signings.
The Southampton support will be somewhat apprehensive about their team’s chances this afternoon, but one man who could make a marked impact on the game is recent acquisition Paul Onuachu.
Will Paul Onuachu star v Chelsea?
Recruited from Belgian outfit Genk for £18m last month, the Jupiler Pro League top scorer was described as a “significant signing” by Jones, having scored 16 goals from 19 league outings this term prior to his move to England.
Having made two starts in the Premier League, the 28-year-old has recorded an average Sofascore rating of 6.9, which is impressive given Southampton’s position and that both of those matches ended in defeat. Indeed, he is already the fourth-highest rated player in the Saints’ squad, as per Sofascore metrics.
With one shot on target, three key passes and one big chance created across those two games, Onuachu exhibited early signs of potentially becoming a profound presence to salvage his team’s season.
Hailed as a “goal king” by John Fashanu, the prolific titan was scoring at a rate of 1.22 per game in Belgium this season; and with his new club netting only 18 times in 22 league matches so far (just two more than Onuachu on his own), he could finally hold the cutting edge to belatedly unlocking a purple patch for Southampton.
Also once dubbed “generational” by one data analyst, the 16-cap Nigerian will be desperate to get off the mark in his new league, having accrued a remarkable return of 164 goals from 329 appearances at club level across the duration of his senior career.
With Chelsea’s two likely starting centre-backs, 38-year-old Thiago Silva and £35m winter signing Benoit Badiashile, standing at 6 foot and 6 foot 4 respectively, the home side have a solid blend of imposing stature and revered experience. Onuachu, who himself stands at a colossal 6 foot 7, could exploit the aerial control in the Blues’ defensive third, having scored six of his league goals this season with headers.
It certainly won’t be easy as, despite positive results largely evading them, Chelsea may be slowly creeping towards the cohesion that Graham Potter so dearly craves, but Onuachu could offer the physical and potent presence for Southampton to compound the west Londoners’ woes.
Having made his first Premier League start against Wolves last week, Selles must unleash the 28-year-old again today in order to give his team their best possible chance of getting a result.
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