Ba Humbug For Saints As Chelsea Take All 3 Points – Chelsea vs Southampton

Jose Mourinho’s inconsistent Chelsea side claimed a relatively comfortable win over Southampton to regain second place in the table, pushing the Saints down to seventh.

After their 8 match unbeaten run came to an end against Arsenal last week, Mauricio Pochettino’s side were looking to bounce straight back to winning ways against a Chelsea team fresh from their shock midweek defeat to Swiss league champions FC Basel.

With both sides then looking to make amends after disappointing defeats last time out, a frenetic early pace to the match seemed inevitable. The away side seemed to take this all too literally however, as, after just 13 seconds, Jay Rodriguez put the Saints ahead. Michael Essien, making his first start this season, chose to deal with a loose ball by way of an almost inexplicable back pass, allowing Rodriguez to latch on and finish confidently past the slow to advance Petr Cech.

In spite of the blistering start, Rodriguez’s goal was the highlight of an otherwise uneventful opening 30 minutes in which Southampton appeared firmly in control. Then, in the final five minutes of the half, the home side came alive. First, Fernando Torres’ whipped ball in from the right was met by the head of Oscar inside the six yard box, forcing a smart save from Artur Boruc. Three minutes later and the Saints’ ‘keeper was again called into action. A neatly chipped cross by Juan Mata from inside the area was headed towards the bottom corner of the goal by Torres, only for Boruc to produce a stunning one-handed stop to deny the Spaniard.

Into the second half and a resurgent Chelsea started to make their mark. Frank Lampard began by forcing another good save from Boruc, the Polish stopper just managing to tip over a free-kick from the left and put the ball out for a corner. The subsequent set-piece however put Chelsea level. Mata’s delivery was headed against the post by Branislav Ivanovic, only for Gary Cahill to react quickest and hook the ball into the empty net.

From then on in, a clearly rattled Saints, not helped by the forced substitution of Artur Boruc, began to struggle. Chelsea started to press high up the pitch, behaving like a totally different team from the first half. Then, on 62 minutes came the inevitable. A sweet delivery from the left by Mata was met by the towering head of John Terry, powerfully directing the ball past the ‘keeper and into the net on his 400^th Premier League appearance.

With just over a quarter of an hour left, Demba Ba looked like finishing the game off for Chelsea, latching onto a long ball from Gary Cahill only for the striker to put his shot just past the post. However come 90 minutes and the Senegalese international made no mistake this time. From just outside the six yard box, a sliding Ba made contact with Ramires’ ball in from the left to seal the points for the home side.

Man Of The Match: Demba Ba – Ironic that the best player on the pitch should replace the worst, Ba was excellent as part of a two man Chelsea strike force, combining well with Torres and causing all sorts of problems for the Saints defence. His direct and powerful approach was just what his side needed and his goal was well deserved.

Writer’s Comment: It was a tale of two halves and two players for Southampton. The first half saw them restrain a lacklustre Chelsea side for long periods, benefiting from a dreadful mistake by Michael Essien and some outstanding goalkeeping from Artur Boruc. It came as no surprise then that come the second half, when both were withdrawn, the tide turned. The Saints couldn’t deal with the pressing and power of the tinkered Chelsea team and eventually succumbed to a far from shameful defeat. Bright spots included the assured performances of both Wanyama and Lovren, however the injury to Boruc will be a worry.