Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has possibly changed formation going into Double Gameweek 25.
With Kyle-Walker Peters (£4.7m) sidelined for the Saints due to a hamstring injury picked up in Gameweek 24, the Austrian is without a senior right-back.
The solution appears to be a back three, which was trialled briefly in that GW24 defeat to Wolves when Mohammed Salisu (£4.3m) replaced Walker-Peters after 72 minutes.
Hasenhuttl hinted at a change of shape in the embargoed section of his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
“If you have no players in one position, then it is always an option to think about a change of shape. This is not something that is too difficult to change quickly, especially when you have had a week to prepare.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl
The potential change of formation would also match Southampton up with Thomas Tuchel’s wing-back system.
Over 600,000 new owners of Danny Ings (£8.5m) will be hoping for immediate returns, irrespective of how the Saints set up. Hasenhuttl’s men also face Leeds on Tuesday in the second instalment of their Double Gameweek 25.
There was also a smattering of investment in Jannik Vestergaard (£4.7m) – who could be at the centre of that back three – and James Ward-Prowse (£6.0m), with both players starting.
It is also possible that Hasenhuttl’s preferred 4-2-2-2 formation remains, which could see Jan Bednarek (£4.9m) operate at right-back.
Che Adams (£5.8m) is once again on bench duty, while Stuart Armstrong (£5.5m) is not part of the matchday squad.
On Thursday, Hasenhuttl said of the club’s injury situation:
Kyle Walker-Peters is another who is out definitely for the game, for a few weeks maybe. Hopefully, there is nobody else [out apart from Walker-Peters, Theo Walcott and Ibrahima Diallo].
Tuchel, meanwhile, continues to keep faith with Marcos Alonso (£5.7m) at left wing-back as Ben Chilwell (£5.8m) is benched for the fourth time in five gameweeks.
Kurt Zouma (£5.4m) earns a rare start alongside Antonio Rudiger (£4.6m) and Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.7m), while Reece James (£5.0m) returns at right wing-back after missing out on the Gameweek 24 starting XI.
N’Golo Kante (£4.9m) is preferred to first-choice penalty taker Jorginho (£4.7m) in midfield. Mason Mount (£6.8m) and Timo Werner (£9.2m) will rove behind striker Tammy Abraham (£7.2m), who overcomes a knock to start.
Edouard Mendy (£5.1m) is also back between the sticks for Chelsea. Tuchel stated this week that the Senegal goalkeeper remains first choice ahead of Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.7m), who started the 2-0 win against Newcastle in GW24.
Southampton XI (3-4-1-2): McCarthy; Salisu, Vestergaard, Bednarek; Bertrand, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Djenepo; Minamino; Ings, Redmond.
Chelsea XI (3-4-2-1): Mendy; Zouma, Rudiger, Azpilicueta; Alonso, Kante, Kovacic, Reece James; Werner, Mount; Abraham.

SIGN UP TO FOOTBALL INDEX HERE
Check your latest FPL rank LIVE on LiveFPL.net every Gameweek
Become a Member and get unrestricted access to our data and articles

Full-year memberships are now available for the price of £19.99. Monthly subscriptions also cost just £2.99. A FREE trial is now available during December.
Join now to get the following:
- Plot your transfer strategies using the fully interactive Season Ticker.
- Get projections for every Premier League player provided by the Rate My Team statistical model.
- Use Rate My Team throughout the season to guide your selections and transfers.
- Get access to over 150+ exclusive members articles over the season.
- Analyse our OPTA-powered statistic tables specifically tailored for Fantasy Football Managers.
- Use our exclusive tool to build custom stats tables from over 100 OPTA player and team stats.
- Enjoy our brand NEW Flat-Track Bully feature which introduces an opposition filter to your tables.
- View heatmaps and expected goals data for every player.
- Use our powerful comparison tool to analyse players head-to-head.
#formation #change #Southampton #Ings #starting #face #Chelsea