Match report:
Full-time: Chelsea 4-2 Southampton
Chelsea wobbled for a bit in the first half, when Romeu equalised and Southampton threatened an upset. But Cahill’s goal just before the break put the league leaders back in front and they pulled further away in the second half with a couple of excellent goals. They are seven points clear at the top of the Premier League. Do your best, Tottenham, but it’s probably not going to be enough.
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GOAL! Chelsea 4-2 Southampton (Bertrand 90+2)
Another beautiful goal! And another one from an ex-Chelsea player. Bertrand rose magnificently above Cahill to meet a cross by Cédric and head into the net from 10 yards.
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90 min: Conte introduces Willian for Hazard, then turns to applaud the home crowd, who are signing merrily. Spurs players, one imagines, have long since turned off.
GOAL! Chelsea 4-1 Southampton (Costa 89)
What a wonderful goal! Chelsea sliced their way through Southampton’s defence with a couple of quick one-twos , first behind Hazard and Costa and then between Pedro and Costa. Costa applied the perfect finish from 10 yards.
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88 min: The treats for the home crowd continue to come: Matic, after constant exhorting, finally has a long-range shot. It might have gone in, too, if not for a deflection off pesky Romeu.
Chelsea substitution: Moses off, Chelsea God on. It may well be John Terry’s last action at Stamford Bridge, and it has the congregation in noisy raptures.
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84 min: Chelsea are managing the game like champs now, taking no risks, just keeping Southampton at arm’s length.
Southampton substitution: Long on, Ward-Prowse off.
81 min: Chelsea tear forward on a rapid counter-attack. Hazard carries the ball into the box, then offloads to Kanté, who tries to dink the ball over the advancing Forster. But the goalkeeper was wise to his game and made a good block.
80 min: Tadic wins a corner for Southampton, the latest in a series. It’s headed away at the near post but Davis fires it back towards goal. Deflected wide.
78 min: Southampton keep plugging away but they’re not looking sharp any more. Gabbiadini might have been in for a shot if he’d controlled a cross by Redmond, but he didn’t.
Chelsea substitution: Pedro on, Fabregas off.
75 min: Southampton, it has to be said, have really missed Van Dijk today. IF they had defended better, they may have managed to convince Chelsea that the Dutchman isn’t so important, after all. As it is, their slovenliness at the back at crucial times has probably convinced Chelsea that buying Van Dijk this summer would be a good investment.
73 min: Tadic booked for petulance.
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72 min: Fabregas charges down a Romeu shot with his arse. Textbook.
71 min: Costa, both beauty and beast, tiptoes ruggedly between two Saints defenders in the box and then slinks a pass off to Hazard, who can’t complete a wicked move.
69 min: For the, um, severalth time today, a Southampton corner results in chaos in the Chelsea box. But the home side got away with it again, as Gabbiadini blasted into the side-netting from a silly angle.
Southampton substitution: Redmond on, Boufal off. Southampton’s record signing has been OK, nothing special. Doing a Pogba, I think it’s called.
66 min: Costa barges his way into the box and tries to sidestep Yoshida. But the defender stands strong and shoulders him off the ball and to the ground before clearing. That’s part of what makes Costa brilliant to watch, you know: when he makes his way into the box it is with total determination to ensure that at least one person will end up on the floor.
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64 min: Hazard whizzes down the left, then cuts inside and feeds the ball back to Alonso. The wing-back has a swipe from 20 yards. Forster saves.
62 min: Sweeping counter-attack by Southampton. The impressive Cédric swings over a cross from the right. Courtois comes off his line to pounce on it before Gabbiadini.
60 min: Romeu booked for a sneakily painful tackle on Fabregas. That’s not like him.
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57 min: There’s a swagger, nay, a sashay about Chelsea now. But Southampton reminded that it’s not yet the time to do that. Courtois pushed a long-range shot around the post.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-1 Southampton (Costa 54)
What a pretty goal! Fabregas and Hazard worked a smart corner-kick routine, Fabregas taking it short and then accepting the return-pass before curling a well-measured cross into the area. Costa showed strength and technique to hold off Bertrand and place a perfect header beyond Forster and into the net!
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51 min: A foul by Yoshida on Costa gives Chelsea freekick near the left-hand corner of Southampton’s box. Fabregas curls it in, Ward-Prowse heads it out.
49 min: Fabregas booked for a sneakily painful foul on Romeu. That’s not like him.
47 min: Turns out both sides have jacked up the tempo this half: Cédric didn’t realise that and was pestered by Hazard into losing possession on the outskirts of his own area. Fortunately for him, Yoshida darted over to bail him out.
46 min: Off we go again. Southampton snap into some early challenges, suggesting they’ve not given up hope of another comeback. Good.
“Do you really see a Chelsea win today as being that decisive?” hollers Jim Denvir. “Spurs need Chelsea to drop points in just two games, and with five remaining after this, Southampton at home is probably one of the games you’d most expect Chelsea to win. If Spurs don’t win tomorrow, I could see that being a big step towards a Chelsea title, as would a Chelsea win away at Everton at the weekend (probably Chelsea’s hardest remaining game). But dropping points tonight would pretty much be a disaster for Chelsea - a win little more than maintaining the status quo.” Yes, yes, but increasing the gap from seven to four points also increases the probability of Spurs dropping points at Palace. Pressure.
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“It couldn’t escape my attention that in the team line-ups, you use only a comma between each Southampton player, whereas you provide Chelsea with commas AND semi-colons, thus indicating their formation and by extension showing them an unearned preference. These minor details may play a part in the Premier League run-in, you know.” Rune Kjempenes (Spurs fan). I wasn’t betraying a preference, I was showing, quite presciently given how Saints defended on the goal, that even the most carefully-planned formations can be rendered meaningless by rank sloppiness.
Half-time: Chelsea 2-1 Southampton
It looked like it was getting away from Chelsea for a while there, but Cahill’s goal on the stroke of half-time has surely settled them right back down. Saints have been good in parts but a couple of moments of static defending have cost them - and Spurs - dearly.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Southampton (Cahill, 45+1)
Southampton wilt under the late pressure! After a corner was cleared, Kanté retrieved the ball on the left and floated it back into the box. Alonso headed it back towards the penalty spot, where Costa wound up an overhead kick but was beaten to the ball by Cahill, who sent a powerful header downward into the net! Shades of Steve Bruce for Man United v Sheffield Wednesday many moons ago - that effectively won the title, has this goal done so, too?
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45 min: Chelsea ending the half on the attack, forcing Southampton defenders to make several desperate blocks and clearances. Bertrand even gets a lecture for grappling with Costa prior to a corner.
42 min: Hazard spurns an opportunity to shoot! He skittered into the box, duped the last defender while switching back on to his right foot and then .... passed the ball sideways! His pass didn’t even reach a team-mate, because Stephens (I think) slid in to clear! What a waste.
41 min: The crowd holds it breath as Ward-Prowse lines up a freekick just outside the Chelsea box, prime territory for a player whose set-piece prowess has been compared to that of David Beckham. But the shot goes wide via a deflection off the wall.
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40 min: Kanté booked for careering late into Ward-Prowse. No way he was going to avoid a yellow for that.
39 min: Cedric and Tadic have connived brilliantly at times down the right. Their latest scheming led to another dangerous cross and, in fairness, another good intervention by David Luiz, who has already headed away several threatening crosses.
38 min: Hijinks in the Southampton box as Fabregas lines up a freekick from 20 yards. The ref takes a moment to upbraid David Luiz and Gabbiadini. Then Fabregas delivers the freekick, which Yoshida clears easily.
36 min: Fabregas takes down a long ball from the back and lays it off for Hazard, who tries to lash it first time towards goal. But he doesn’t catch it right and the ball bobbles way wide.
34 min: Kanté rises at last to the Romeu challenge - and in some style! He bursts past three defenders and into the Saints’ box, then spoons the ball into the danger zone, forcing Stephens to hook it clear from under his own goal. Chelsea keep the pressure on and win a corner when a shot by Matic is deflected behind.
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33 min: Freekick for Southampton in a dangerous position, just outside the box but to the left of the goal, near the byline. Ward-Prowse pings it in, Courtois palms it away.
32 min: On the evidence solely of the opening 32 minutes here, Puel, unsurprisingly for a man who whispers his way through press conferences, was guilty of under-stating things: because Romeu > Kanté.
31 min: Tadic floats over a deep cross from the right. Bertrand meets it beyond the far post and nods it back across goal. David Luiz clears.
28 min: A foul on Moses by Bertrand in the Chelsea box gives Chelsea an opportunity to get the ball down the other end, where it hasn’t been for a while. You can almost hear Mauricio Pochettino cheering his old team on ...
26 min: Southampton come forward again, clearly intent on completing their imitation of Crystal Palace ... this is getting interesting ...
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Southampton (Romeu 23)
Azpilicueta unintentionally flicks a Southampton corner on at the near post. Gabbiadini retrieves it beyond the far one and has a shot from an acute angle. Courtois makes the block but parries it only as far as Romeu, who diverts it into the net from close range! Well, well, well!
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23 min: Ward-Prowse sends in a freekick from deep. David Luiz nods it away again, but only as far as Davis, who has a pop from 25 yards. It takes a nick off a defender and goes out for a corner.
22 min: Another dainty move by Southampton brings the visitors the edge of the Chelsea area. Boufal then flips a cross into the danger zone. David Luiz heads clear.
20 min: In the light of his thunderblaster at Wembley on Saturday, Matic is being encouraged by the crowd to shoot every time he gets the ball within 40 yards of goal. So far he has resisted, but you know he’s going to feel the need to let fly sooner or later.
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18 min: What a chance for Hazard! Costa made it with a deft flick, leaving Hazard to try a shot similar to the one with which he scored against Spurs here last season. But this time he curled his effort a few yards wide of the top corner.
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17 min: Lovely move by Southampton, who are growing into the game! They built intricately and patiently down the right, with Tadic and Cédric especially nimble. The latter eventually played a neat short ball in to Boufal, who could have shot from a tough angle but decided to try to pull it back to a team-mate in the middle. But it wasn’t accurate enough and Chelsea cleared the danger.
15 min: Southampton continue to exert moderate pressure, but an incursion into the box is foiled when Matic relieves Gabbiadini of the ball.
13 min: Boufal and Bertrand combine nicely down the left before their plotting is rumbled by Moses, who steps in to dispossess Bertrand expertly.
11 min: With Fabregas dictating play, Chelsea move forward again and win a corner when Stephens nicks the ball off Costa. The corner yields nothing.
8 min: Chelsea are cruising at the minute. Southampton are standing off them, watching them stroke it about. Must be painful viewing for Tottenham fans.
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6 min: Before we write this off as a routine Chelsea win, let’s remember that they took an early lead at home to Crystal Palace a few weeks ago but ended up losing 2-1.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Southapton (Hazard 5)
So much for Chelsea’s jittery start! This time it was Southampton who were sloppy, Yoshida dozing as Costa ran on to a pass. From the right-hand side of the box the striker rolled a pass back to Hazard, who fired low into the far corner from 15 yards as Saints defenders admired him. Too easy.
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4 min: More evidence of Chelsea jitters? Kanté rashly concedes a freekick about 30 yards from goal. That’s a cue for Southampton to use a clever setpiece routine, as Ward-Prowse rolls a disguised pass to Tadic, who clips a cross over to Davis at the back post. But Davis can’t get a firm touch to it.
3 min: David Luiz and Azpilicueta get in a mix-up in their own area - each leaving it to the other to clear - and Gabbiadini almost punishes them! The striker wriggled between both defenders and darn near got a shot in. But Azpilicueta and David Luiz came to their senses just in time to bundle him away from goal. A warning for the league leaders, however.
1 min: Chelsea kick off. Within one minute Fabregas is on the edge of the Southampton box trying to clip a pass through to Hazard. But Yoshida - who has been close to excellent since Van Dijk’s injury earlier this year - makes an interception.
The players on on the pitch in their designated formations. Chelsea are all in blue, Saints were in red-and-white striped jerseys with black shorts and red stockings.
The teams are in the tunnel, where Pedro has just given Lee Mason one of the heartiest greetings ever given to a referee by a player. Respect. The Spaniard smiled at Mason as if he were a long-lost friend. They haven’t seen each other for a while, that much is true: Mason has not yet reffed a Chelsea game this season.
Antonio Conte has been explaining his decision to give a rare start to Fabregas. “I think Cesc is a player that can play in different positions. Now I think with his personality and quality in this part of the season it is very important to have him. Pedro can be an option off the bench during the game.”
This, by the way, is Chelsea’s first home game since the announcement that the club’s founder, John Terry, will be leaving at the end of the season. As you can see from the lineups below, he’s on the bench today so there’s a chance that he could do what he did on his first Premier League appearance for the club 19 years ago, when he came on as a substitute in a 2-0 win over Southampton at the Dell. That was Boxing Day 1998 and Terry came on as a 73rd minute substitute for Gus Poyet, who, along with Torre Andre Flo, had scored Chelsea’s goals. Gianfranco Zola also played for Chelsea that day. He, of course, was last seen leaving Birmingham City while Poyet is managing somewhere in China. Southampton were managed in 1998 by Dave Jones, who this week was run out of Hartlepool United. Things fall apart for everyone, see.
Terry, mind you, fancies he still has a year or two left in him as a player, maybe even in the Premier League. There have been mutters about West Ham and Brighton, but surely, SURELY, he belongs at West Brom, where Tony Pulis could get at least another decade out of him.
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TEAMS:
Chelsea: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kanté, Matic, Alonso; Fabregas, Diego Costa, Hazard.
Subs: Begovic, Ake, Terry, Chalobah, Willian, Pedro, Batshuayi
Southampton: Forster, Cédric, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand, Romeu, Davis, Ward-Prowse, Tadić, Boufal, Gabbiadini.
Subs: Hassen, Caceres, Clasie, Hojbjerg, Long, Redmond, Rodriguez
Referee: L Mason
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Preamble
Hello. Chelsea ruined Spurs’ FA Cup hopes on Saturday and now want to crush their Premier League dreams too, the bounders. Victory today would go a fair way to doing that, extending Chelsea’s lead at the top of the table from four to seven points before Spurs go to Crystal Palace tomorrow. And with Antonio Conte’s men due to play Everton early on Sunday afternoon, the gap at the top could be a daunting 10 points before kick-off in the north London derby (if Spurs lose at Palace, that is), when Spurs will begin trying to claw their way back into contention all over again. This match, then, has pivotal look to it even if, mathematically speaking, a win wouldn’t even guarantee a Champions League spot for Chelsea, let alone the title.
The chances of Southampton keeping the season interesting for the rest of us are not as remote as you might think. They won at Stamford Bridge last season, after all. Granted, that was when Virgil Van Dijk was fit and they had Sadio Mané, Victor Wanyama and Graziano Pelle in their ranks but, on the flip side, they had Martin Stekelenburg in goal. What is more, Claude Puel’s side won’t lack motivation as they could do with at least a point from today’s game to boost their hopes of maintaining a respectable top-half position in the table, as opposed to tumbling down towards the relegation zone, from which they are, at present, misleadingly distant: they are nine places above Swansea, but only nine points. And Southampton do still have some fine players, at least until another round of sales in the summer. Dusan Tadic and Sofiane Boufal, for instance, are capable of giving Chelsea’s wing-back plenty to think about; Manolo Gabbiadini can exploit any slackness in central defence; and Oriol Romeu will return to Stamford Bridge hellbent on proving Puel is not deluded for suggesting he’s almost as good as Ngolo Kanté. That, like the match itself, promises to be an intriguing duel. There are worse things you could do than follow this mbm, that’s all I’m saying.
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