Lambert to reach Saints milestone by scoring in Chelsea draw

Two goals in his last three appearances has seen Rickie Lambert reach 99 league goals for Southampton and there is every reason to believe that he will move onto three figures when Chelsea visit St Mary’s.

Lambert scored in both Premier League starts against Chelsea last season, but only got 23 minutes earlier this campaign when rotated onto the substitute’s bench.

It is 2/1 that Lambert scores in the 90 minutes against Chelsea and both teams have been on target in each of the last six meetings between this pair.

However, it is Jay Rodriguez that has been Southampton’s main source of goals of late, with five goals in his last seven, which was a run that started at Stamford Bridge.

Rodriguez has also netted in Southampton’s last two showdowns with Chelsea and he is 11/4 to score against the Blues again.

In terms of the match betting markets, Chelsea are favourites at 19/20 and a victory for them would mark the first instance of Mauricio Pochettino losing back-to-back home games as Southampton manager.

Southampton’s odds are 14/5 to beat Chelsea, with the draw priced at 5/2.

It is the draw that perhaps offers the best value, given that Jose Mourinho hasn’t seen his team win an away game against opposition currently positioned above 14th in the Premier League standings.

Meanwhile, Southampton haven’t won at home against opposition above them in the table at present.

However, key to a draw could surprisingly be Chelsea scoring first, as Southampton have not shared the points in any of the nine Premier League games this season in which they have broken the deadlock.

Both teams scoring when these clubs are in opposition again can be backed at 7/10, with the 1-1 and 2-2 draws having some appeal among the correct scoreline offerings at 11/2 and 14/1 respectively.