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Merry Christmas! It’s time for presents and family and fun, not necessarily in that order. And then after all that, it’s time for some football! Yay!
Our Boxing Day schedule sees us take on Southampton at Stamford Bridge. We’ll be hoping for home comforts, which have been lacking in recent weeks. Hopefully, the good vibes and the momentum will carry over from Sunday’s 2-0 win against Spurs. We haven’t won back-to-back games since late October. Certainly could use a nice winning run after two months of stuttering form.
Chelsea were practically injury-free for the Spurs game — only dealing with Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s long-term injury — but we knew that wouldn’t last too long, surely. César Iron-man Azpilicueta picked up a muscle injury towards the end of Sunday’s game, and while he’s hopeful of getting a clean bill of health for Christmas, Lampard wasn’t too positive in his press conference this morning.
Mateo Kovačić will also miss the game due to yellow card accumulation. He has become one of the first names on the team sheet, even ahead of Jorginho and N’Golo Kanté, recently, and his absence will certainly factor into the teamsheet.