Chelsea will finish 2014 as leaders of the Barclays, despite Jose Mourinho’s side toiling to a 1-1 draw at Southampton.
The west Londoners failed to hit their usual impeccable standards at the St Mary’s Stadium, with Southampton displaying their top-four credentials in a battling display. An upset appeared on the cards when Sadio Mane raced through and deftly lift over Thibaut Courtois for his second goal in as many matches. However, a moment of brilliance from Eden Hazard shortly before the break levelled proceedings, as he curled home his seventh league goal of the campaign.
Chelsea pushed hard for a winner after the break but had to settle for a point, despite an 88th-minute red card for Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin. A draw ensures Chelsea will top the pile going into 2015, while Southampton hit back by avoiding defeat against a top side after recent losses to Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United.
Dusan Tadic, one of four Southampton changes from the 3-1 beating of Crystal Palace on Boxing Day, tested Chelsea early with a shot from distance that went well wide. The Serbia winger played an influential role as the hosts moved ahead in the 16th minute. His expertly dinked through-ball caught John Terry flat-footed and the Chelsea captain was left trailing in Mane’s wake as the Senegal winger sprung the offside trap and kept his cool to lift the ball over Courtois.
Chelsea made just three alterations to the team who beat West Ham on Friday and did not take long to show their talent, dominating the majority of possession, but they spurned chances in the final third. However, the visitors restored parity on the stroke of half-time with a fine finish from Hazard.
Fabregas showed great vision to play a delicate chip into the path of Hazard in the left channel, who cut inside Belgium team-mate Toby Alderweireld and bent a fierce shot into the far corner.
Fabregas was again involved 10 minutes after the break when he went down in the penalty area trying to go past full-back Targett, who was making his first league start in place of Chelsea loanee Ryan Bertrand, and referee Anthony Taylor deemed it a dive and booked the Spaniard.
The visitors continued to press and Fabregas again teed up Hazard on the hour but this time he flashed wide of the right post, while Didier Drogba was introduced to add muscle to Chelsea’s attack.
However, for all the visitors’ pressure a clear-cut opportunity never materialised and even when Schneiderlin received a second yellow card and subsequent red for hacking down Fabregras on the halfway line Chelsea could not find a way through, missing the chance to keep daylight between themselves and Manchester City.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman: “One point against Chelsea may be three points against another opponent. I’m proud of the players, the organisation and the spirit in the team. We knew it would be difficult, but the boys were fantastic. We had some difficult moments, but we kept the organisation. We were maybe a bit lucky at times. but if you don’t have luck against these teams you don’t get a good result.
“We played until the last second with the organisation and the spirit was unbelievable. The difference was we didn’t make stupid mistakes like we did against City and United. The second half was more difficult, they had more possession in the second half.”
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho: “I can believe Southampton defended with everything they have. [They played] with organisation, spirit and solidarity of players and the effort they fought to get the point.”
source: premierleague.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 