Southampton 1-1

Telegraph:


Chelsea 1 Southampton 1
Mourinho's side held by outstanding visitors


Jim White

So Chelsea are not going to have the title easily after all. In an astonishing, non-stop ping pong of a game at Stamford Bridge, a match that, never mind for the players, barely allowed the observer to draw breath, the Premier League leaders were held by a magnificent Southampton team who absolutely refused to yield.
Yet for a moment it looked business as usual for Chelsea. After the traumas of Champions League exit on Wednesday, everything appeared to be back in normal order, with Jose Mourinho able to field his strongest team.
After ten minutes of neat, sharp interchange and passing, Eden Hazard galloped into the Southampton area, checked, turned and passed out to Branislav Ivanovic. The Serb’s perfectly weighted cross was steered expertly from the head of Diego Costa past Fraser Forster.
Putting an end to a barren run of seven games, Costa’s beautifully worked goal was precisely the kind of start Mourinho had demanded.
“We are top of the league,” chanted the home supporters, confident they were seeing another step taken on the route to domestic domination, certain that this was just the start.
But this was not to account for their visitors. Unlike Manchester City, Southampton did not appear to share the assumption that the title was Chelsea’s by default, there to be gifted rather than fought for.
Just a moment after Costa’s goal, Sadio Mane found himself level with penalty spot and with the goal suddenly gaping. Tibault Courtois made a superb save from his strike, the ball span out to Steven Davis who worked it to Dusan Tadic who looped a shot just over.
Suddenly Chelsea were rattled. With Morgan Schneiderlein and Victor Wanyama biting into every tackle, with the visiting midfield closing down at pace, Chelsea found themselves with no room to move.
More to the point, Southampton’s Mane was having the game of his season. Quick, purposeful, direct, he was spreading alarm with every advance. On 18 minutes he tore into the Chelsea box, and was brought down by Nemanja Matic. Mike Dean pointed to the spot and, much to Courtois’s frustrations, Tadic tame penalty went straight down the middle.
A minute later, Southampton thought they might have another spot kick, when Tadic’s shot hit Gary Cahill’s arm. This time, Dean was not interested.
By now, Mane was creating havoc. His skill and pace would not look out of place in Mourinho’s line up. First he fired a beautiful ball to Shane Long, who was wrongly flagged for offside.
Then quick, neat, sharp lay off to play in Dusan Tadic, whose low shot was smartly saved by Courtois. Another one two, a cross by Ryan Bertrand, Long jinking in and a scrambled clearance by panicked Chelsea defence causing unease in the stands.
“Champions of Europe you’ll never sing that,” the home supporters sang at their increasingly dominant visitors.
“Johnstone’s Paint trophy, you’ll never win that,” came back the sharp response.
And Southampton’s approach didn’t change in the second half. Immediately from kick off, Mane was scythed down by a struggling Nemanja Matic. Toby Alderweireld’s freekick athletically turned over by Courtois.The manner in which Fabregas was shrugged off ball by Wanyama was indicative of the pattern of play.
But Chelsea are not top by chance. Mourinho reorganised by bringing Ramires on in place of Matic, who was having huge difficulty containing Mane. His arrival seemed to add a bit of energy to the home side. They dug deep into their mental reserves and responded with vigour and determination.
Led by the irrepressible Costa, bundling forward, exuding energy and menace, Chelsea began to match Southampton’s speed into the challenge. As Costa powered on the crowd’s excitement rose. Chelsea were creating chances again. Willian hit post after scramble, Costa but an inch from connecting.
But, Southampton were not to be cowed. As the action pinged back and forth, in an end to end frenzy, Tadic found himself jinking into the area, evading every home challenge. But he could not take clean advantage of his break.
This was high quality tit for tat, Hazard, Fabregas and Oscar meeting their match in Mane, Wanyama and the superb Schneiderlin. Southampton won a freekick after Mane had been tumbled by Ivanovic and a moment later, Costa obliging Forster to make an impulsive save as he thumped in a header from Willian’s cross, Fabregas’s follow up forcing an even better response from the Saints keeper. Then Oscar was set free by a brilliant Hazard pass, but Forster once more deflected the resulting shot.
Mourinho tried to force the issue by bringing Loic Remy and Juan Cuadrado for the last ten minutes. And Chelsea kept on trying, Cesar Azpilicueta forcing another brilliant save from Forster as the 90 minutes ended.
From the corner a mad scramble in the box, with Ivanovic inadvertently blocking John Terry’ goalbound shot, had Mourinho throwing his hands up in despair. As stalemates go, this was of the highest quality.

=================

Guardian:
Chelsea suffer more Stamford Bridge frustration against Southampton
Daniel Taylor

Apart from a couple of barbs about Graeme Souness and the other pundits José Mourinho sneeringly believes are “paid to wear my suit”, Chelsea were on their best behaviour and wanted everyone to see as much. Mourinho rarely left his dugout. His players kept their distance from the referee even after the borderline decision for Southampton’s penalty and the manager was a model of restraint when he was asked whether Chelseashould have had a spot kick of their own. “You will have to control me,” he said, turning to his press officer in the next seat.
On another day it was probably fair to assume there might have been a long diatribe about Chelsea’s perceived injustices. Remember, it was against Southampton in December that Mourinho first went into overdrive about a refereeing conspiracy, trying to convince us there was a “campaign” against his club and eventually copping a £25,000 fine from the Football Association because of it. The penalty Nemanja Matic conceded here will almost certainly be added to his little black book of grievances as will that moment later in the first half when the referee, Mike Dean, missed Dusan Tadic clipping Branislav Ivanovic’s heel when he was in Southampton’s box.
All the same, it was a nice change to see Mourinho exercising some restraint despite clearly being frustrated to see his team drop points at home for the third time in four league matches. Chelsea had won the previous 10 and Mourinho’s competitive spirit made it difficult for him to reflect it had still been a profitable weekend. He should not beat himself up too much.
Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premier League has stretched to six points, with a game in hand, and Southampton showed again here why they have been one of the stories of the season.
Ronald Koeman’s side excelled during the first half, playing with a mix of high skill and fearlessness. “Why do we have to be afraid?” Southampton’s manager said. “It’s 11 versus 11, so show your qualities.” His players followed the advice and Chelsea had to work exceedingly hard before taking control in the second half, leading to a tense finale when Fraser Forster made a series of fine saves in Southampton’s goal and John Terry had two chances in quick succession during five minutes of stoppage time.
Mourinho’s team had taken the lead in the 11th minute when Diego Costa headed in Ivanovic’s cross for his first goal in eight matches but Tadic’s penalty came not long afterwards and for the rest of the first half Southampton played with the kind of enterprise that is usually beyond visiting sides at Stamford Bridge.
They did not keep the ball so well in the second half but it would still have been desperately harsh if they had succumbed to that late pressure, no matter how much lingering doubt there was about the penalty.
Matic was booked for the challenge on Sadio Mané but his outstretched leg did reach the ball as he and Ivanovic converged on Southampton’s quick, elusive forward. Ivanovic was chasing Mané and if anything it was probably his presence that put Mané off balance. Dean, however, clearly thought it was Matic’s foul.
Koeman had left out his leading scorer, Graziano Pellè, because of the deterioration in the Italian’s performances since Christmas and Shane Long’s indefatigable running was a prominent feature as Southampton dominated until half-time. Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand attacked from the full-back positions, Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin dovetailed with great expertise in midfield and Mané was always a difficult opponent.
Costa’s goal was a throwback to those days earlier in the season when he was expected to score in almost every game. He is not, though, the marauding force we saw in the autumn and early winter. Cesc Fàbregas is struggling to recapture his best form and this was an off-day for Matic, who could feasibly have been sent off for another foul on Mané in the opening moments of the second half. Mourinho removed him not long afterwards.
Chelsea certainly took their time working up any real momentum but Eden Hazard came alive in the second half. Koeman accepted afterwards “you need luck” and Chelsea could look back on that moment in the 57th minute when Willian let fly and Costa threw himself at the misdirected shot only for the ball to squirt upwards and flick off the post. Forster excelled in the last half an hour and Southampton defended with great defiance.

Man of the match: Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton)

==============