Summary
Two dropped points as far as Chelsea are concerned, they will feel like they should have won here, but this draw means they are six points ahead of Manchester City, also with a game in hand. But let’s all just give it up for Southampton, they were dangerous and incisive in the first half, and defended stoutly in the second. Forster, Fonte, Alderweireld, Schneiderlin and Mane were all outstanding. Southampton are sixth, ahead of Tottenham on goal difference.
Speaking of Spurs, I’m off to do the Manchester United v Tottenham MBM. Join me here, if you like.
Ending on our managerial garments theme, I’ll let Zach Neeley have the last word.
“Can you beat a fur coat?”, he emails.
No Zach, no you can’t. Bye!
Full-time: Chelsea 1-1 Southampton
And that’s that!
93 min: Chelsea press but they can’t break down Southampton’s wall. It doesn’t help that Cuadrado loses the ball, maybe the third or fourth time he’s done so in the 10 minutes or so that he’s been on.
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91 min: WHAT A SAVE. It’s a good old injury-time goalmouth scramble. Cahill gets his head to the corner, and Cuadrado smashes a volley from 10 yards out. It’s hit straight and true, but Forster somehow sorts out his feet with the ball squirting back out towards Terry. Terry shoots once, with the ball blocked by Wanyama, and then again, with the ball sailing just wide. Mourinho holds his head in his hands, so close!
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90 min: Azpilicueta nearly catches Forster napping at his near post. But the England keeper gets a last-ditch palm to it and turns it down for a corner.
Four minutes added on here.
88 min: Ooooo if Mane controls the ball correctly, he’s one on one with the keeper! The striker had latched onto Pelle’s hooked pass, beating the offside trap, but it’s a poor first touch and Azpilicueta is able to recover and clear.
85 min: Cuadrado makes his first contribution: firstly delivering one of the worst corners ever to be taken – rolled straight to the Southampton man guarding the near post – and then taking a cross down on his chest and shanking a shot wide with his weaker left from 10 yards out.
“I hope Southampton hold as am going to see them play next weekend for the first time in 12 years,” emails David Raw. “And why is my twelve year old able to keep nutmegging me, am I alone in this????”
Dads getting nutmegged by their sons, a British Sunday past-time if there ever was one.
83 min: A few subs to update you on: Remy is on for Oscar, Cuadrado is on for the now-injured Willian and Southampton’s Pelle is on for Long.
82 min: Djuricic gets a deserved yellow for a nasty challenge on Willian, running his studs down the back of the Brazilian’s calf.
80 min: Chance for Costa! Cahill wins a header in Southampton’s box, with the ball rebounding off a knee, then a hip, into the path of Costa. He blasts it with his left, but Fonte somehow gets across and makes a challenge, with the deflected shot flying over the bar.
78 min: Southampton defence are now permanently entrenched inside their own box. Chelsea are trying to unpick the lock, the crowd again urging Fabregas to shoot, the Spaniard again choosing a sideways pass.
75 min: Hazard is playing more centrally now, and pulling the strings for Chelsea. He plays a delightful through pass to Oscar, who shoots forcefully at Forster. It’s another good save and Southampton survive. They’ve got a long 15 minutes ahead of them.
74 min: Fonte and Costa clash again, the former needlessly bringing down the latter on the edge of the box. Dangerous free-kick, but Oscar’s free-kick deflects off the four-man wall.
“Could it be that Fonte is the most under-rated defender in the league?” asks Admir Pajiæ. “He made Dejan Lovren look like a 20-million-pound central defender, for God sake!”
I’m not sure if he’s under-rated any more. He’s just … good.
72 min: Great double-save from Forster! From a devilish Willian cross, he parries a Costa header and then does well to spread himself to deny Hazard, who fires in the rebound from a narrow angle. Chelsea are getting closer!
70 min: Double substitution from Southampton: Ward-Prowse on for David, and Djuricic on for Tadic.
67 min: Mane is perhaps the Southampton causing Chelsea the most problems. He latches onto a clever ball out of defence from Schneiderlin and glides past Cahill on the edge of the box. The England international unceremoniously brings him down. Cynical, and Mike Dean waves a yellow-coloured card in Cahill’s direction. Davis fires the free-kick across goal, but Courtois collects.
64 min: Southampton appear to be tiring, they are no longer as slick or decisive in possession.
“Please tell Barry Marshall he’s my hero,” emails Derryl Murphy. “The “coated in glue and rolled through Sports Direct” line gave me more laughs than the Wayne Rooney knockout video.”
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62 min: Two bookings in two minutes. First Wanyama brings Hazard down in an attempt to stop a Chelsea counter-attack, and then Ivanovic is penalised for an almost-identical challenge on Mane.
60 min: Chance for Long! Tadic wriggles free in Chelsea’s box, and squares a short pass to Long, but Cahill again does magnificently well to close the striker’s shot down, taking the well-struck shot to his gut. Ouch.
58 min: From the resulting corner, Forster claws at the ball, but it falls to Willian who smashes a shot through a crowd of people. Costa slides and stretches at the back post and toes a bouncing ball onto the post! Southampton hack clear! Much better from Chelsea, their tempo has raised significantly in the last 10 minutes.
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57 min: Costa is back on his feet, and sprinting at full pace to the byline resuming his battle with Fonte. Fonte gets a toe on the ball, and concedes the corner. Costa is really fired up now, and shows some of that aggression, pushing Fonte in the chest. He’s fun to watch isn’t he? Fonte is bemused, but Costa pats the Portugese apologetically, and all is well and right with the world.
55 min: Another Chelsea penalty shout, and again it is turned down by Mike Dean. Costa’s pace and strength puts Fonte under all sort of pressure, but the defender uses his shoulder legally to ease Costa off the ball. No penalty.
53 min: Chelsea’s first change, and it’s the mo-hawked Ramires to come on in place of Matic. That’s good management from Mourinho – Matic would surely get a second yellow card if he made one more mistimed tackle. He was lucky not to get sent off at the beginning of the half.
50 min: Hazard has swapped wings with Willian. The Belgian is so quick, and burns Bertrand – no mean feat – down the outside, before delivering a cross. Fabregas receives the ball on the edge, with the crowd urging him to ‘SHOOOOOT’ but he tries a pass instead, which doesn’t work. Fabregas would certainly have taken that shot on earlier in the season.
47 min: From the resulting free-kick, Alderweireld laces a piledriver at Courtois. Its a good save from the Belgian, but the rebound falls back in front of him. Mane tries a spectacular overhead kick, but Cahill gets his body in the way. Not the way Mourinho would have wanted his team to start the second half.
46 min: Sloppy throw-in from Ivanovic, and Mane intercepts. Chelsea’s defence is on its heels and Matic cynically trips Mane up. He should be off! He’s already on a yellow card, and that challenge definitely warranted a booking. Chelsea can count themselves very lucky. No doubt that decision will be forgotten by Mourinho after the game.
Peeeeep! And we’re off again!
A worst-dressed shout from Barry Marshall.
“Worst-dressed has to be either Pulis or Poyet, surely? Both look like they’ve been coated in glue and rolled through Sports Direct.”
“Herve Renard is a legend here in Zambia,” writes Bradley Bloomfield. “This is a local washing powder advert that plays on his infamous white shirts.”
What an accent he has. Imagine him giving you a half-time team-talk. I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it.
Half-time: Chelsea 1-1 Southampton
José Mourinho is surely going to rip into his players at the interval.
45 min: Chelsea resort to lumping the ball into Southampton’s box, and Costa does win the header, but the ball rolls wide. The Spaniard is winning most crosses against his markers, but this seems to be Chelsea’s only threatening tactic at present.
44 min: Southampton break, with Mane again leading the charge. It goes left to where Southampton have a man over, but it’s a poor cross. Chelsea are being overrun on the counter-attack, particularly down their right-hand side. Willian is giving Ivanovic hardly any support in defence, which is unusual for the normally industrious Brazilian.
42 min: Bertrand stupidly dives in on Hazard. Free kick in a dangerous wide area. Fabregas curls one to Matic at the back post, but the ever-present Schneiderlin tidies up the knock-down.
Southampton fans sing: "Ryan Bertrand - he left 'cos you're s**t." Chelsea reply: "Ryan Bertrand - he's won more than you."
— Dan Levene (@BluesChronicle) March 15, 2015
40 min: Mane win a cheap corner. The excellently quiffed Fonte and Alderweireldmake their way up from the back. The corner is delivered hard and low and Schneiderlin turns a volley goalwards but it’s just wide.
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38 min: More Chelsea probing, but with little effect. Wanyama and Schneiderlin are doing a fantastic job of protecting their back four. There is no room for Oscar and Hazard in there, and no easy ball to Costa other than a big hoof.
35 min: Chelsea have the ball back, but Fabregas isn’t going anywhere, he can only play sideways or backwards. He chooses the latter, laying off to Azpilicueta, who boots it desperately straight out of play. Fabregas shakes his head and raises his arms up in exasperation at the lack of movement ahead of him.
33 min: Mane is the latest to have a chance, but the ball gets stuck under his feet, and his curled effort is kindly collected by Courtois. Mourinho is off his bench, looking dourly at his players, he’s not happy.
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29 min: Desperate stuff from Chelsea! Bertrand, playing against Chelsea for the first time since leaving the club, gets to the byline and fizzes a brilliant ball, across the face of goal. Neither Long or Courtois can get there, and the ball pinballs around the six-yard box, before kindly falling to Fabregas, who clears. That could have gone anywhere, and you have to say Chelsea are lucky to still be level.
28 min: This is all Southampton now! Chelsea are camped in their own box and after the visitors work the ball from right to left again, Tadic shoots low and hard, forcing Courtois into another good save.
26 min: Long wins a header – he’s just 5ft9in, but what a spring he’s got – and suddenly Chelsea look outnumbered. Tadic is completely unmarked and he is well found, but he hesitates and plays a poor pass when he should have shot! Chelsea clear, and Mane is booked for a challenge on Ivanovic as he bring the ball out.
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24 min: Ronald Koeman will be pleased. Southampton have seen off the initial wave of Chelsea pressure and they are posing a real danger with their pace up top with Mane and Long. Looking the more likely to get the next goal, at the moment.
Also, just to note that it was Matic that was booked, not Terry. Apologies for that.
21 min: Penalty shout for Chelsea now! Ivanovic exchanges passes with Costa and breaks into the box. He’s not properly tracked, but dramatically throws himself to the floor, as he has been known to do. It looks a dive, but replays show that Tadic did catch him. Lucky escape for Saints.
Tadic steps up and places his shot down the middle. Courtois dives to his left, but sticks out a long, gangly leg and gets a toe on it. There’s a slight deflection but the ball sneaks in. Courtois is visibly upset, Tadic visibly relieved.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Southampton (Tadic pen 18)
So nearly saved by Courtois!
52 - Southampton players to score PL pens: Le Tissier 25 Beattie 10 Lambert 6 Magilton 3 Pahars 3 Crouch 1 Hirst 1 Dodd 1 Phillips 1 Tadic 1
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 15, 2015
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PENALTY TO SOUTHAMPTON!
18 min: Matic penalised for a challenge on Mane! Mane plays a nice one-two with Wanyama, and burst into the box. Matic looks favourite to get there, but Mane’s searing pace means he gets the wrong side of the Serbian, who is forced to slide. He gets a bit of the ball, and a bit of the man, and Mane tumbles over. Mike Dean points to the spot, and books John Terry for dissent. Probably the right decision.
95% - Southampton have the best penalty conversion rate of any PL team to take 10+ in the competition's history (52 gls from 55). Expertise.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 15, 2015
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15 min: Courtois now shows another side of his game, neatly turning Long as the striker closes down a loose backpass.
13 min: Southampton so nearly strike straight back. Tadic gets to the byline and cuts back to Mane, unmarked on the penalty spot. The striker hits it with his weaker left, but its a fierce strike, with Courtois getting down extremely well to palm the ball away. What a save that is.
Chelsea get the reward for their excellent start. Hazard cuts inside and lays the ball back to Ivanovic, who crosses first time. It’s swung with pace towards goal, and Costa, standing on the six-yard line gets between Fonte and Alderweireld and nods past Forster. Stamford Bridge erupts. Simple goal, or at least the quality of Ivanovic’s cross made that look simple.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Southampton (Costa 11)
He’s back!
10 min: This is better from Southampton, as they enjoy their first sustained bit of possession. Bertrand gets free down the left and wins a cheap corner, which is delivered without any danger.
8 min: Long, who is preferred to Pellé today, gets his first opportunity to stretch Chelsea’s defence, dribbling up the left. He’s too isolated though, and Cahill makes a textbook slide tackle.
6 min: Willian has started really well, releasing Hazard for a dangerous counter-attack, before helping to support the Belgian. The move briefly breaks down, but a switch of play from Oscar finds Hazard again and a lovely one-two-three combination of passes let’s Willian get to the byline. He flashes a low cross across the six-yard box, but it’s hacked clear. Silky start from Chelsea.
4 min: Willian comes off his right flank and turns neatly before driving at the heart of Southampton’s defence. Fonte commits himself, and the ball is played left to the oncoming Azpilicueta, who blasts the ball way over the bar.
2 min: Chelsea get hold of the ball, Fabregas looks to be playing very deep. Southampton meanwhile, have lined up in a 4-4-2, with Mané just off Long at the sharp end.
Peeeep! And we’re off!
“Sometimes simplicity is the best choice in sideline fashion,” preaches Daniel Schulwolf. “The classy yet understated Herve Renard takes my vote.”
#Infografis: Perjalanan karir Herve Renard. #SportSatuCoach pic.twitter.com/JkyuQXJDpT
— SportSatu (@Sport_Satu) February 11, 2015
The teams are out on the pitch, Chelsea in their all-royal blue strip, Southampton in their traditional red and white stripes, with red shorts and socks.
Great shout from Alastair Cheshire. More of this please.
“Best dressed manager in football can’t be taken away from the Exeter boss Paul Tisdale surely?”
The ultimate hipster manager Paul Tisdale is making an appearance on the FLS tonight @HipsterManager pic.twitter.com/aXU4sGczx5
— Josh (@cpfc_josh) December 28, 2014
José Mourinho is wearing a dapper suit and has spoken some words before today’s match. In response to the fact that 10 of the Chelsea players that started against PSG start today:
“It is my message of trust, of belief. I’m not like the wind, I have stability about my emotions with my opinions about my players.”
“This might be the quirky American in me, but I would love to see a manager go Bill Belichick and rock the ‘homeless guy in a hoodie’ look,” emails Tennessee’s Vance Williams.
Wrong sport, but then I guess I didn’t specify which type of football I was talking about. Makes Tony Pulis look like Patrick Bateman.
If you were wondering what former Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot made of the London club’s Champions League exit to PSG…
I feel like The day I lost my virginity and than woke up and saw It was a wet dream. Dreams can be cruel sometimes!!! #mmlove #CFC
— Mario Melchiot (@MarioMelchiot) March 11, 2015
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Today’s teams
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Fàbregas, Matic, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Costa. Subs: Cech, Luis, Zouma, Ramires, Drogba, Rémy, Cuadrado.
Southampton (4-5-1): Forster, Clyne, Fonte, Alderweireld, Bertrand, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Mané, Steven Davis, Tadic, Long. Subs: Kelvin Davis, Yoshida, Gardos, Djuricic, Ward-Prowse, Pellé, Targett.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Whilst we’re on the subject of managerial garb, who do you think is football’s best or worst dressed boss? The man in the home dugout today isn’t a bad place to start. Emails on a postcard to michael.butler@theguardian.com please. Or you can tweet me @michaelbutler18.
Preamble
Are you ready for a goalfest, reader? Are you?! Well buckle up and take a swig from your hip-flask, because … this Sunday lunchtime kick-off is unlikely to be one. The Premier League’s two meanest defences collide at Stamford Bridge: Chelsea’s record of conceding just 22 goals only bettered by Southampton, who have been breached just 20 times.
If that is impressive stuff, the stats at the other end of the pitch for these two teams have been lacking of late. Chelsea were toothless against PSG as they tumbled out of the Champions League and have only scored more than one goal once in the last five league games. Their best early-season players, Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas have looked lacklustre and out of form, whilst their £27m January signing Juan Cuadrado has hardly set the world alight.
Southampton have not fared much better: they have only scored just twice in the last six league matches, although admittedly these did result in 1-0 wins on both occasions, including their victory against Crystal Palace last time out. Thirteen of Southampton’s 28 league games have produced either one or no goals.
Despite every effort to downplay this match and instead encourage you to heat up some soup or carry on your House of Cards binge, or whatever it is you do on a Sunday in 2015, this is probably going to be a cracker, isn’t it. The Premier League leaders against arguably the most intriguing side in the division? Dusan Tadic strutting his stuff? The possibility of Ronaldo Koeman turning up in these chinos? Yes please.
Kick off: 1.30pm GMT
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