Chelsea vs Southampton live streaming: Watch Dec 1, 2013 Premier League match

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Stamford Bridge will play host to an exciting encounter between Chelsea and the surprise package of this season Southampton, on Sunday the 1st of December.

Preview: Saints looking to take advantage of inconsistent Chelsea

Southampton will be looking to justify their top four credentials with a strong performance against Chelsea. The Saints have performed admirably under the tutelage of Mauricio Pochettino and have begun the new season strongly. Their antics have earned them a place in the top five and the residents of St Mary’s stadium are just two points behind Chelsea, which means that a win will allow them to leapfrog the London side into the top four.

The Saints have produced excellent performances against big teams, picking up points from matches against Liverpool and Manchester United. However Southampton failed to do the same when they clashed against Arsenal at the Emirates last time out. Even though they played admirably throughout the match, they were unlucky to concede two foolish goals courtesy of a horror from goalkeeper Artur Boruc who gifted Olivier Giroud possession in front of the goal before Jose Fonte needlessly pulled Per Mertesacker’s shirt inside the box to gift the Gunners a penalty and thus another goal.

The result against Arsenal ended their eight match unbeaten run with their last defeat coming at the hands of Norwich back in August. Having lost just two matches so far in the season Southampton surely have no reason to feel down and will be raring to make a comeback on Sunday.

The Saints have conceded the least goals in the league and Chelsea will surely find it very difficult to break through a very disciplined Southampton defence. Furthermore the presence of Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin in the middle of the park will really limit the attacking threat and the likes of Oscar and Lampard will surely find it difficult to dictate the game.

Chelsea meanwhile have been one of the most inconsistent team in the league so far. The Blues were expected to take the league by storm under the management of Jose Mourinho but have so far failed to maintain a momentum. A brilliant 3-0 victory over West Ham over the weekend was followed by a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Basel. But manager Jose Mourinho refused to point fingers at his players and instead took the blame on himself for the defeat.

"I felt the team was tired. The team today paid the price of the international [break]," Mourinho said according to ESPN.

Mourinho once again snubbed Spanish star Juan Mata, giving him no playing time in the matches against West Ham as well as Basel. The Portuguese tactician justified his selection by claiming that he wanted to maintain a winning eleven which had done so well against West Ham.

"The match that was crucial for us against West Ham, everyone played very, very well and everyone played an intense game and we paid a price [against Basel]. They were tired, no reaction, wrong decisions, so I’m not so sad with them because I think I understand. The team was not fresh.”

"Maybe I should make more changes in my team, but when you play so well and when we get such a good performance against West Ham, you have the temptation to play the same team because they played so well. We should get a better result than this, but I don't blame the players."

Spanish international Fernando Torres made a return to the side during Chelsea’s 1-0 loss against Basel, but Mourinho will not be able to utilise the services of Cameroon international Samuel Eto’o who has been ruled out due to a muscle injury.

Pochettino on the other hand might have to do without Chelsea target Luke Shaw who limped during half time in the match against Arsenal, but Southampton will be boosted by the return of defender Dejan Lovren who missed the trip to Emirates due to sickness.