Southampton suffered another defeat, at the hands of the holders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in London. Saints are currently on a five game win-less streak.
Mauricio Pellegrino mentioned midweek that he would only select players who were 100% committed to Southampton Football Club, and it was no surprise to see Virgil van Dijk dropped on that basis. Other players dropped to the bench included Charlie Austin, Sofiane Boufal, Dusan Tadic, Mario Lemina and Steven Davis. They were replaced with Jack Stephens, Wesley Hoedt, James Ward-Prowse, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Nathan Redmond and Manolo Gabbiadini,
Antonio Conte made one change to the side that beat Huddersfield 3-1. Antonio Rudiger was replaced with Gary Cahill.
Southampton started the brighter and quicker of the two teams and came close to tapping the ball into an empty net. Redmond found an always over-lapping Ryan Bertrand, whose low cross evaded Thibaut Courtois. Cahill almost got the ball lost between his feet, but he just about managed to avoid an embarrassing loss of possession which would’ve left Ward-Prowse with an open goal.
Fraser Forster was forced into his first save after 25 minutes. Hazard weaved his way into the box before laying the ball off for N’Golo Kante whose goal-bound shot was well saved by Forster.
On the brink of the 45th minute mark, Chelsea hit the woodwork through Spanish winger Pedro after successfully dribbling into the box, but his near post shot thundered off the post.
Chelsea did take the lead with pretty much the last kick of the first-half through a Marcos Alonso free kick. The ball was curled around the wall and a slow-to-react Forster saw the ball go past him into the net.
Chelsea duo Willian and Cesar Azpilicueta forced Forster into another set of good saves.
Substitute Charlie Austin produced Southampton’s first shot on target after an hour of play. He was played through into goal by Redmond, but his finessed shot was fairly comfortably saved by Courtois.
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful, although Southampton fans may have noticed that Bertrand pulled up with what seemed to be a hamstring issue, so fans will be hoping that it is nothing too serious.
Southampton next travel to Huddersfield in what inevitably seems like a six-pointer, because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of positive vibes amongst Saints fans considering that relegation seems like a genuine worry the way the club is being run and managed currently.
