Chelsea slump to defeat at Southampton

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Southampton 2 Chelsea 1

Chelsea suffered a third consecutive away league defeat – and a major blow in their pursuit of a Champions League place.

First-half goals from Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert were enough to see Southampton to victory, with John Terry’s headed goal a rare bright moment in a flat display by the Blues.

Interim manager Rafael Benitez made a number of changes with one eye on an FA Cup quarter-final replay with Manchester United less than 48 hours away.

He dropped Ashley Cole, David Luiz, Ramires and Demba Ba to the bench, bringing in John Obi Mikel, Marko Marin, Ryan Bertrand and Fernando Torres, who were all sub par.

Gary Cahill failed to recover from a knee injury so Terry made his first league start since 2 February, and his unmarked header from a Marin corner drew Chelsea level after Rodriguez had slotted the Saints into a deserved lead.

The home side immediately retook that lead after Bertrand fouled Steven Davis on the edge of the box and Lambert stepped up to curl home the free-kick superbly from 25 yards.

Victor Moses went closest for Chelsea in the second half, when his deflected effort was tipped onto the bar by substitute goalkeeper Kelvin Davis, who replaced Artur Boruc at half-time.

Benitez was once again barracked by Chelsea supporters as defeat saw the Blues slip to fourth in the table, behind Tottenham and only two points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Terry, Bertrand; Lampard, Mikel (Ramires 71); Moses, Oscar (Benayoun 76), Marin (Hazard 60); Torres.
Subs not used: Turnbull, Cole, Luiz, Ba.

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