John Terry will miss out for Chelsea

Chelsea will again be without captain John Terry for their trip to Southampton on Saturday.

The 35-year-old suffered a hamstring injury in the 5-1 win over Newcastle and Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink is reluctant to rush him back.

"We want to be careful with this kind of injury," he said. "When you have something in the tendon or in the hamstring then sometimes you think, as a player or manager, that it appears to be good, but you must be careful.

Jamie Redknapp looks ahead to West Brom's Saturday Night Football clash with Crystal Palace before previewing the 3pm kick offs and helping you try and win Jamie Redknapp looks ahead to West Brom's Saturday Night Football clash with Crystal Palace before previewing the 3pm kick offs and helping you try and win

"I am in favour of waiting two or three days more because it's not good to have a setback. We have Norwich on Tuesday and we will see whether he will be available and fit."

Chelsea are unbeaten in the Premier League under Hiddink but face a Southampton side who not conceded in over nine hours.

They have won five of their last six matches and were 3-1 winners at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season.

Team news

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is without the suspended Victor Wanyama but otherwise has a near fully-fit squad from which to choose.

His only absentees are Florin Gardos and Jay Rodriguez, though both are back in training and expected to return imminently, once they are again fully fit.

Guus Hiddink has some advice for the Chelsea board as Antonio Conte closes in on agreeing a deal to succeed him at Stamford Bridge Guus Hiddink has some advice for the Chelsea board as Antonio Conte closes in on agreeing a deal to succeed him at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea remain without Terry so Branislav Ivanovic is likely to continue in central defence, with Baba Rahman at left-back.

Hiddink is also without Kurt Zouma, who will miss the remainder of the season because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury, while Alexandre Pato and Radamel Falcao are also out, respectively owing to a lack of match fitness and a groin injury.

Opta stats

Southampton have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 11 Premier League games against Chelsea.

Chelsea have won four and lost just one of their seven Premier League trips to St Mary's.

Diego Costa has scored seven goals in his last eight Premier League appearances.

Graziano Pelle scored in Southampton's win at Chelsea

Southampton have gone nine hours and 14 minutes since they last conceded a Premier League goal.

Ronald Koeman has the best win percentage of any Southampton manager in Premier League history (45.3 per cent).

Guus Hiddink has lost just one of 22 Premier League matches as boss of Chelsea (W14 D7 L1)

Merson's prediction

Chelsea took a bit of a pasting when these two sides met in the reverse fixture but they've turned things around since then. This will be a good test to see how far they've come.

Southampton have looked solid and kept a few clean sheets in recent weeks. It's a very hard game to call as I don't see too much between the sides. I'll go for a 1-1 draw with Gary Cahill scoring the first goal.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (Sky Bet Odds 5/1)

Betting

Chelsea are Sky Bet's marginal favourites at 8/5 for the victory with Southampton 7/4 to extend their unbeaten run with a win and 23/10 to do so with a draw. Both sides will be looking to boost outside chances of a top-four finish, with the Saints currently rated 16/1 chances while their visitors are all but dismissed at 33/1.

Diego Costa heads the first goalscorer market at 9/2 with Graziano Pelle and Charlie Austin sharing favouritism from the hosts' side of the market at 11/2, while Fraser Forster is 21/10 to rack up a seventh successive clean sheet. The St Mary's clash is part of this weekend's Super 6 line-up, with a bumper £1million jackpot up for grabs.