Southampton 1 Chelsea 1
Eden Hazard scored as Chelsea recovered after trailing but had to settle for a point at St Mary’s despite dominating most of the second half.
The Blues fell behind on 17 minutes when Dusan Tadic dinked the ball forwards and the livewire Sadio Mane raced away from John Terry to clip a perfect shot over the onrushing Thibaut Courtois.
But Hazard drew Chelsea level in first-half injury time, finishing a counter-attack clinically when he cut inside two defenders before drilling a low shot past Fraser Forster’s left hand for his 10th of the season.
The Blues are the first team this season to salvage a point after going a goal down to the Saints, who had Morgan Schneiderlin sent off late on.
Almost inevitably, it was Cesc Fabregras who provided the assist for Chelsea’s goal – a sumptuous ball with the outside of his right foot inviting the in-form Hazard to scamper forwards and bury the chance.
Hazard almost added to his tally when a cheeky lob from Fabregas gave the Belgian the opportunity to turn inside the area and sweep a first-time shot agonisingly wide of the far post.
Increasingly the Blues pinned the Saints back inside their own penalty area – Didier Drogba replacing John Obi Mikel as boss Jose Mourinho went in search of a winner. Loic Remy also came on for a quiet Diego Costa.
Fabregas became the latest Chelsea player to invoke a booking for alleged diving, when referee Anthony Taylor decided the Spaniard had deliberately tumbled in the area early in the second half.
But replays showed there was contact with defender Matt Targett and that the visitors should have had a penalty.
Chelsea had an extra man advantage for the final few minutes after Schneiderlin picked up a second yellow card following a foul on Fabregas.
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This post was last modified on 28/12/2014