Chelsea 1 Southampton 1
Chelsea’s hopes of effectively slamming the door on their title rivals suffered a blip as they were held to a draw at Stamford Bridge.
An early strike from Diego Costa was quickly cancelled out by a Dusan Tadic penalty and despite an improved second-half performance following a nervy opening 45 minutes, the Blues could not quite force the issue.
Desperate for some silver linings after their dismal midweek Champions League exit, they still increased their lead at the top of the table to six points and have a game in hand.
They were in front after 11 minutes when Costa rose almost unchallenged to power a header past Fraser Forster from six yards for his 19th goal of the campaign. Branislav Ivanovic supplied the perfect curling cross for the Spain striker.
Sadio Mane almost replied immediately, side-footing Tadic’s cutback goalwards, only for Thibaut Courtois to pull off a typically sharp reflex save low to his right.
But the reprieve was short lived, as Tadic levelled from the spot on 19 minutes after Mane’s dart into the box had been brought to a halt by a sliding challenge from Nemanja Matic – the Serb failing to convince referee Mike Dean that he made contact with the ball before the man.
Southampton’s pace up front – Shane Long and Mane both troubled the Chelsea back four – paved the way for another Tadic strike on goal that Courtois did well to keep out and there was palpable rising tension in the home side’s stuttering performance.
The signs were no better at the start of the second half when Matic – booked for the penalty incident – was lucky to escape a second yellow card for a foul on Mane. And from the resulting free-kick, Toby Alderweireld sent a dipping, swerving shot from 25 yards that Courtois had to tip over.
Boss Jose Mourinho replaced Matic with Ramires soon after, deciding not to risk his midfielder collecting a red card.
Chelsea nearly regained the lead when Willian’s loose drive across the six-yard box resulted in Costa poking the ball onto the far post and as the Blues cranked up the tempo, Forster needed to be at his best to keep out an Oscar header and Eden Hazard’s close-range follow-up.
The Saints keeper also did very well to keep out another effort from Oscar inside the box and a stinging drive from outside the area by Cesar Azpilicueta as Chelsea’s pressure intensified.
Some late pinball in the Saints penalty area also came close to bringing a happier ending to a trying week for Mourinho’s men – Loic Remy and John Terry having shots blocked.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic (Ramires 53), Fabregas; Willian (Cuadrado 83), Oscar (Remy 82), Hazard; Costa.
Subs not used: Cech, Luis, Zouma, Drogba.
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This post was last modified on 18/03/2015