Saints travel to Stamford Bridge looking to avenge their battering 11 days ago in the FA Cup.

To the neutral Saints travel to West London with two hopes of a result at Chelsea, Bob Hope and No Hope ! but perhaps the Blues recent form at Stamford Bridge offers Saints a chink of light, after all QPR went their recently and won and Chelseas home form hasnt been great at Stamford Bridge, but you do have to put that in perspective in the fact that they have hardly played at home in the league in the last six weeks, since drawing 0-0 with Fulham on 28th November only two sides have visited in the League, Aston Villa who were battered 8-0 and the aforementioned QPR, plus Swansea in the Capital One Cup.

All three teams were put to the sword, but QPR and Swansea somehow managed to keep a clean sheet and took their chances when they go them and that is the key to getting a result at Stamford Bridge.

But even the most ardent Saints supporter wouldnt put too much money on Saints keeping Chelsea out, those at Aston Villa on Saturday know how fragile this defence is and if Aston Villa can create so many chances then how many are Chelsea going to fashion out for themselves, the question is will they have the finishing power they did against Villa when in truth they just seemed to take their chances rather than completely obliterate Villa who in fairness didnt play badly, or will it be the side who coulent score against either QPR or Swansea.

Both of those sides based their victories on a solid defence and a man of the match goalkeeper, our defence's problem is that away from home it loses the men it should be marking too easily and that could be a real problem.

You hope that perhaps we might be able to step up our game and dig in, but personally having watched every one of our away games so far, usually live at the ground but barring that the full game on TV, very rarely do we put in a comprehensive defensive performance, in every game there have been errors, even the win at QPR saw a sloppy goal conceded where their scorer lost his marker in the box and had a free header from close range and I can barely remember a goal on the road that hasnt been down to some sort of error from one player or another.

But football is a funny game and sometimes you do get a result when none is expected, however im not holding my breath on this one.

What Saints have to do is show that they can maintain discipline in defending, it could come down to goal difference at the end of the season and the important thing in this game is not to concede too many and that in itself will be a good nights work, call me negative if you want, but im a realist and I know how bad our defence has been.

Chelsea rely on pace and passing to cut open defences, we have no pace in any area of the team and we are often outpassed when defending resulting in players easily leaving us for dead and being unmarked, its happened in every game so far, its going to happen at Chelsea we have to get to grips with this.

I truly hope that I have to eat my words come 10pm tonight, it will give me no pleasure to see us slaughtered, but if we are to achieve anything tonight then we have to set out our stall properly, sadly I feel that perhaps Rickie Lambert should be rested and Jay Rodriguez played as the lone striker, our forays into Chelsea's half may be sporadic and we need someone mobile up front who can chase the ball down, not only in an attacking sense but being the first line of defence and not allowing Chelsea too much time building from the back, Rickie is not fast enough to do this, Rodriguez is, for some dropping Rickie is unthinkable, but this is the Premier league, in games like this you have to grind out results, QPR and Swansea didnt get their wins from playing football they got them from hard graft.

That fact will also probably see no place for Ramirez, we need a midfield five who can work non stop for 90 minutes and that isnt the Uruguayan we also need wide men who can track back and cover Chelsea's overlapping threat on both sides, on the left I would have preferred to see Fox covering Shaw, but with the youngster out it might fall on Fox to play left back, who will play in front of him will be crucial, worryingly I cant see an obvious choice, De Ridder might have pace, but even in a short period at the end of the Villa game he gave the ball away twice and put pressure on us, one of them earning a stinging rebuke from Rickie Lambert, personally I would use Ben Reeves to provide some pace down that wing.  

If we can get this game out of the way, then hopefully by the time we face Everton we will have at least one new central defender in place, day 16 of the transfer window is upon us and after four months to identify players we seem no nearer any crucial signings other than Forren, its time this club dealt with its shortcomings on the pitch.    

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 10:34 - Jan 16 gazza cork hooi yosh clyne punch spida davis reeves ram lamb Saints' only hope is not to defend but to stop attacks. Keep the ball up front as far away from the penalty area as poss.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:44 - Jan 16 I think Adkins will play: Boruc Clyne Hooi Yosh Fox Cork Schneiderlin Puncheon Lambert Ramirez Rodriguez Adkins never sets us up to defend with ten men behind the ball so I can't see him doing that tonight. I think he'll want us to close them down all over the pitch, try to keep possession ourselves and have a bit of a go at them. I would expect Lambert and Rodriguez to play but with Lambert dropped a bit deeper to link the play, and Rodriguez running the channels and playing off the last defender. If Adkins does go with the system above then Puncheon and Ramirez will have to track the Chelsea full backs as Cole and Azpilicueta will be bombing forward at every opportunity. I think if Saints can go in level at half-time then we have a chance of getting a result. If we go into the 2nd half chasing the game then they will open us up and we'll get hammered. Will Rafa rotate his team from the team that beat Stoke 4-0 on Saturday? They've got a huge game at home to Arsenal on Sunday so there is a good chance that he will make changes. The more changes he makes the more chance Saints have got. There's going to be a strange atmosphere at Stamford Bridge tonight with a lot of the home fans protesting against Benitez. If Saints can make the 1st half uncomfortable for Chelsea then the home fans will turn and the pressure on the Chelsea players and manager will build. We've got to keep them out early on and go in level at half time! That is the key!

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brady100 added 12:10 - Jan 16 With all due respect, I don't think you can really put forward much of an argument for Reeves to start the game. I'm very worried about Hooiveld at CB tonight....having said that this is a bonus game, not expected to get anything. Keep the score respectable and frustrate Chelsea...they have it all to lose!
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SaintJez added 12:29 - Jan 16 Hooiveld is bound to struggle tonight but centre back is a specialist position and away at Chelsea is no time to experiment with midfielders who have no experience of that position. Hooiveld and Yoshida will likely only have 1 player right up top against them and they need to manage that between them. At a minimum, we need high concentration levels and no mistakes. The game will likely be lost in the space between defence and midfield where the creative and running talents of Mata, Hazard, Oscar and Lampard will attempt to make hay. Our midfielders and full backs have a major job to do tracking runners all the way and closing down the space. As a result, I would close down this part of the pitch as much as possible. I also think Fox is a liability defensively so, if Shaw is out, I'd play Clyne left (at least he has pace to recover) and Richardson right. Boruc Richardson Hooi Yoshida Clyne Cork Spider Davis Punch Ramirez Lambert This is very harsh on J Rod who's worked really hard in recent weeks - and I can't quite say the same for Ramirez as much as I'd like to - but I think we need players on the pitch who could create something out of nothing and Ramirez does (or should!) fall into that category. Tonight is a night for him to prove that he is a performer on the big stage.. Come on you Saints!!

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Bulgarian added 14:28 - Jan 16 Agree with SaintJez, however I'm more afraid to see Hooiveld in CB than the risk with Cork filling the position. With all my admiration to Hooiveld's service to the club, watching him tonight will be 90 minutes of nonstop nail-biting. Maybe, just maybe he has to be preferred though because of his hight. Has anyone heard something good about Aaron Martin's progress this season? Nobody seems to consider him a reliable deputy.

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mg2104 added 15:34 - Jan 16 Shaw on his Twitter feed has said he is fit and ready for selection.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 15:38 - Jan 16 Aaron Martin played 5 games for Palace right at the start of the season and they lost 4 out of the 5. He was then dropped from the team and all of a sudden Palace went on an incredible 14 game unbeaten run which included 11 wins. And since that run, Palace have only lost 3 times in 12 matches, and in all of this time Martin has only played once as a substitute. So Martin still hasn't played much Championship football, and he struggled when he played for Palace. He hasn't proven himself at Championship level so the Premiership would be a huge step too far I imagine.

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