"There can't be any excuses" - Chris Sutton predicts comfortable victory for Chelsea over Southampton in Premier League

Chris Sutton reckons there are no excuses for Graham Potter when Chelsea take on Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday (February 18). He claims that the Blues have to win, or else the manager would be under massive pressure.

Chelsea have just two wins in their last 14 games across competitions, and fans are getting impatient for a win. The Blues are languishing in tenth place in the standings but will close in on the top four with a win this weekend.

In his BBC predictions for the week, Sutton has backed the Blues to win 2-0 against the bottom-placed Southampton, who are without a manager currently. He wrote:

"Chelsea boss Graham Potter really has to win this game, because otherwise he is going to come under massive pressure. Potter's side missed more chances against Borussia Dortmund in midweek, and we know they are missing a cutting edge - but there can't be any excuses for not beating Southampton, who are bottom of the table, don't have a manager and are in a real mess."

The Blues are winless in four games across competitions, drawing three, since beating Crystal Palace 1-0 in the Premier League a month ago (January 15).

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Chelsea's Ben Chilwell doubtful for Southampton clash

Graham Potter has revealed that due to fatigue, Ben Chilwell come off during the midweek UEFA Champions League loss to Borussia Dortmund. The Chelsea manager added that the plan was for the left-back to play a maximum of 70 minutes. He said:

"About five minutes before he came off, he had a run down the side and had a kick on his ankle. I haven't checked it over, but I think it's more of a kick than anything else and probably a little bit of fatigue. That was his first start for some time, so the idea before the game was to take him off at 60/70 minutes max. So that was the plan."

Chillwell has admitted that time is running out for his side and wants them to do better. He said:

"I don't think it is luck. There are no excuses. We played well tonight, but if we want to go far, then we need to play even better. We have a lot of new players who we're trying to integrate. Unfortunately, that takes time, but we also don't have time, but we're trying our best to work hard and put that right."

The Blues lost 1-0 at Dortmund in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg in midweek.