Chelsea 0-0 Southampton: Blues held by the Saints at home
Chelsea were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by Southampton at Stamford Bridge, leaving the home side just three points clear at fourth position in the table. Maurizio Sarri’s men had chances to score but they couldn’t really put the finishing touch. They were rightly booed off by the fans after the final whistle.
Looking at the stats, the Blues had over 70% of possession and 17 attempts on goal, yet a resilient Saints side were not giving away an inch. The home side’s best chance fell to their best player Eden Hazard, however, his well-timed shot was well saved by Premier League debutant Angus Gunn.
Alvaro Morata thought he scored the winner in the second half, only to be denied by a tight offside flag.
Southampton, on the other hand, offered very little in terms of troubling the Chelsea rearguard. Oriol Romeu had a pop from distance that was easily saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The hosts wanted a late penalty when Shane Long allegedly pushed Marcos Alonso in the box. But the replays showed that the referee got it right as the former didn’t really push the latter; it was more of a slight shove.
Despite earning a hard-fought point, Saints drop down to 18th in the table, as Burnley won and lifted themselves out of the danger zone. For Chelsea, they remain at fourth place with 43 points. However, with Arsenal (41 pts) and Manchester United (38 pts) closing in, the pressure has increased on Maurizio Sarri’s men.
Here’s how the Blues fans reacted on Twitter after a timid performance by their team:
Awful, awful match. Zero attacking creativity. ZERO. Sign some players who are Chelsea level in this window so our injury list doesn’t end up killing us.
— 🇫🇷 (@nglkan7e) January 2, 2019
Get a decent striker for God’s sake
— Michael (@nocretinsplease) January 2, 2019
Sign people that are capable of putting the ball in the net
— Dan (@TCEL_Danzter) January 2, 2019
Technically Chelsea will be out of top four because of this kind of football.
Manchester United are coming all the way to pool Chelsea out of top four.— Samwel (@Samwel78924351) January 2, 2019
Do not let fabregas go, brought all the creativity we had
— Juan Jose Campos (@J_Camps17) January 2, 2019
Am very disappointed with this result
This sarri ball is not working at all
Morata bad luck— Andy Sandy (@AndrewSandy17) January 2, 2019