Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has delivered his verdict on Southampton and Ralph Hasenhuttl ahead of the Premier League clash on Tuesday.
The Blues came out 2-1 victors last time out against Leicester City despite being reduced to 10 men after Conor Gallagher's dismissal.
They will travel to the south coast to face Southampton just days later, facing Hasenhuttl's side on Tuesday night.
The Saints come into the match off the back of a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United on Saturday, with Bruno Fernandes scoring the only goal of the game as Southampton looked impressive.
The Blues will be without both N'Golo Kante, who is suffering with a hamstring injury, and Gallagher, who will serve a suspension.
Chelsea will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins after suffering defeat against Leeds United.
Tuchel has now provided his verdict on Southampton, what he expects, and their boss Hasenhuttl.
Speaking to the press, as quoted by football.london, he said: "I had the chance to watch the game of Southampton (against Manchester United) live and saw a very strong side.
"They had a huge turnaround at Leicester to win the game, and you could see they gained a lot of confidence from it. They conceded, but they had a lot of touches in the box, a lot of shots against Manchester United and were very mobile upfront."
The German continued to reveal that he expects an intense game at St Mary's.
"What you can always expect in Southampton is a physical game, a running game, a high-intensity game," he continued. "This is what it is. We need to recover well and be well prepared to repeat what we did last season."
Tuchel served a suspension against Leicester last time out after an altercation with Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte.
The head coach was asked if he is looking forward to facing a more friendly face in Hasenhuttl, with the pair sharing a relationship from their time against each other in the Bundesliga.
"It's better," Tuchel admitted. "But listen, I played many times against Antonio Conte, and normally we have zero issues with each other, so things can happen in a football match.
"I have a lot of respect for Ralph, and we have played against each other a lot of times, and he is a very nice person and a very good coach, and his fingerprints are all over this Southampton team every year.
"He will be very friendly before the match, but during the match, he will not only be friendly with us. Don't make the mistake; he is a competitor as we are.
"We will fight it out but always with fair play. It will be better to be on the sideline than in the stands."
Topics: Chelsea, Southampton, Premier League, Thomas Tuchel, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Football
Nick Emms