Three Chelsea stars drop early team news hints ahead of Southampton as Noni Madueke decision made

Noni Madueke has hinted that he could return to the starting XI for Chelsea's trip to Southampton on Wednesday. Enzo Maresca's side travel to St Mary's looking to make it three successive wins in the Premier League.

Madueke, who had started 11 successive top-flight matches, was dropped to the bench for Sunday's 3-0 win over Aston Villa with Pedro Neto coming back into the line up. There was a change on the other wing, too, as Jadon Sancho was recalled to the side in place of Joao Felix.

However, Maresca could shake things up - as he has done for most midweek games this season - and bring the likes of Madeuke back into his XI. The former PSV winger has impressed this season, scoring five goals in 15 appearances, and he came off the bench to assist their third against Villa.

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And on Wednesday afternoon, Madueke posted on his Instagram story a graphic of him in action while showing details of the trip to Saints, including the 7.30pm kick-off time. It's unclear whether Madueke is going to start, but he has dropped the greatest hint yet that he is going to be in the side.

Uploading an Instagram story on the same day as a game is a regular feature of modern football - and has historically shown that a player is lined up to start the fixture. As joining the early gang promoting the match, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo both added info-graphics to their social media in the build-up, with both players expected to keep their place in the XI.

Chelsea head to Southampton in third, level on points with second-place Arsenal, while their opponents sit bottom of the Premier League on just one win all season. Despite this, Maresca insists that it's the "worst game" for his side since the start of the season.

"It's the worst game since we start the season, for us, and will be the toughest game since we start the season," Maresca said. "We need to be ready, otherwise it will be a bad day for us. The reason why, because if you analyse the results, they're probably there [bottom of the league] but in terms of performance, they were winning against Liverpool, they lost against City 1-0, they drew with Brighton.

"The way they have played since last year because I was in the Championship with Southampton last year, I know them quite well. They are very brave and it is very clear what they want; they want to keep the ball and we want the same, and it will be, for sure, a tough, tough game and we need to be ready."