Neither Southampton nor Chelsea were able to start their strongest XI in their mid-holiday fixtures. Rather than a tactical rotation, both forced to change their personnel due to illness, injuries and ineligibility. José Mourinho opted for a similar line-up to the one that he fielded against a robust Stoke side with John Obi Mikel given another start while Ronald Koeman moved Maya Yoshida out wide, saddled with the thankless task of trying to contain Eden Hazard.
Throughout the first half, it was the hosts who looked the more lively of the two sides. Koeman started his first choice front three of Sadio Mané, Graziano Pellè and Dusan Tadic. The trio combined wonderfully for Southampton’s goal in the 16th minute, catching out Chelsea’s defence. Mané’s speed and confident finish put the Saints deservedly ahead.
As the first half continued, it looked like Southampton would grab a second before half time as they continued to counter-attack effectively. Chelsea spent a great deal of time in and around Southampton’s final third but didn’t manage a single shot in the opening 45 minutes while Southampton had 8 in that same period.
It wasn’t until injury time in the first period that a moment of individual skill from Eden Hazard saw Chelsea finally manage a shot at Fraser Forster — which resulted in a fantastic goal. Who else but Cesc Fàbregas played the pass in for a trademark Hazard goal, cutting inside and dummying to shoot before weaving further inside and finding the back of the net. Hazard was a man on a mission and managed to save his side some embarrassment before heading in for a likely rollocking from Mourinho.
The Chelsea boss decisively ended the Andre Schürrle experiment at half-time as he wanted “creativity not just a runner”, bringing on Willian in his place. With just the single shot in the first half, Mourinho may have wanted to bring on someone who’s more effective in front of goal, but the change did spark something in Chelsea as they attacked the second half with a lot more vigour than they managed in the opening 45 minutes of the match.
Although Fàbregas has flourished in the ‘number 10’ role, Chelsea seemed to still be missing a creative presence in the final third. The visitors could have used the imagination and physical presence of Oscar and the switch in personnel appears to have hindered Diego Costa rather than helped him as he’s looked isolated without the Brazilian creating that space for the Sprazilian.
Chelsea threw everything they had at Southampton in the second half including Didier Drogba and Loïc Remy. But Southampton defended heroically. A back four who had not played together this season pulled through and worked as a unit to contain Chelsea. The single error came from Matt Targett who’d got his first start of the season against Chelsea.
Although the youngster had a fantastic match overall and was Southampton’s top rated player (7.40) against Chelsea, he inadvertently tripped Fàbregas in the box. On another day, and against another team if you believe Jose Mourinho, the young defender would have conceded a penalty and possibly the winning goal. But Anthony Taylor decided that it was simulation from Fàbregas rather than a trip and a foul.
After being so outspoken about diving last season, Mourinho’s side have now been booked for simulation at least twice as many times (4) as any other team in the Premier League this season. After the match Mourinho spoke extensively on the double punishment (not getting a penalty and receiving a yellow card) of the incident but thinks the talking point should be how Filipe Luis and Eden Hazard have nearly both ended up with broken legs in recent weeks.
Although Koeman wouldn’t be drawn into explicitly acknowledging that it was a penalty, the Dutchman hinted at it as he said “in some moments we were a bit lucky, but if you don’t have luck against these teams, it is impossible to get a result.” The game might be done and dusted, but this will likely not be the last time anyone hears about it.
Did Chelsea create enough chances to deserve three points at St. Mary's? Let us know in the comments below
