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Sunday 28 December 2014

Shot-shy Chelsea run aground at Southampton

Chelsea’s five-match winning streak came to an end in a 1-1 draw at Southampton on Sunday, although the point was enough to keep them at the Premier League summit.Sadio Mane opened the scoring for the hosts, who impressed in the first half but did little but defend for thesecond period as Chelsea, who levelled through Eden Hazard just before half-time, launched attack after attack.Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin was sent off in the closing stages, but the hosts held on.The final whistle was greeted joyously by the home fans, who have seen Southampton prosper under new head coach Ronald Koeman, who previously worked alongside Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho at Barcelona.Chelsea made three changes to the side that beat West Ham United 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day,with Filipe Luis, John Mikel Obi and Andre Schurrle coming in for Cesar Azpilicueta, Willian and Oscar.Jose Fonte returned from suspension for Southampton, 3-1 winners at Crystal Palace that day, but Ryan Bertrand was ineligible to face his former club and fellow full-back Nathaniel Clyne was unavailable due to injury.The hosts were fortunate early on when goalkeeper Fraser Forster failed to collect a corner, but John Terry, scorer of the opening goal in Chelsea’s two previous matches, could not direct his header on target.Forster was second to the ball again when Schurrle burst into the box on the left, but the German could only poke wide from a tight angle.Southampton almost took the lead when Schneiderlin and then Mane connected with a corner, only for Terry to prevent Fonte from tapping in at the back post.But Chelsea’s defence was caught out by the next Saints attack as Mane, put through by Dusan Tadic, keptcalm and flicked his shot past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois as if it were a training exercise.

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