Chelsea were ‘lucky’ – Koeman

Southampton boss Ronald Koeman felt Chelsea were lucky to come away from St. Mary’s with victory – but blamed his side’s poor ball retention.

Shane Long’s goal just before half-time had the Saints in front, and they held that lead until Cesc Fabregas’ freak equaliser, from a cross, in the 75th minute.

Chelsea won the match two minutes from time when Branislav Ivanovic thumped home a header from a corner.

Koeman said: “You need luck to win games. We won games in the last few weeks that certain points in the game, certain situations, we were a little bit lucky. But that’s football.

“You don’t score always like how they scored their first goal, because that’s a little bit lucky. It’s a cross, nobody touches the ball, it goes in.

“If the referee whistles for a penalty, [and you go] 2-0 up, you win the game. Football is all about those kind of decisions. We accept it.”

Koeman was disappointed with his side’s second-half display, which allowed Chelsea a foothold in the match after their own sluggish performance before the break.

He said: “[When] you play against a good team, a better team at the moment than it was at the beginning of the season, with very good players, you need to be perfect in the second half.

“We wasn’t because we lost more balls, then you have to drop too much back [in defence].

“The second goal is disappointing, because it’s out of a set piece, a corner kick. Normally we’re defending [corners] very good.

“It’s the first time in one-and-a-half seasons that we concede a goal straight from a corner kick.”