Branislav Ivanovic completed a fine second-half comeback with a headed winner a minute from time at St Mary’s. The Serbian thumped home Willian‘s corner after Cesc Fabregas had equalised with 15 minutes to go, cancelling out a lead given to Southampton late in the first half by Shane Long.
It was never going to be easy to find a way past a defence that hadn’t conceded in six league matches, but the Blues kept plugging away and got their reward when Fabregas‘s floated cross beat everyone and landed in the net.
Then Ivanovic struck in trademark style to seal a well-earned three points on the road, extending our unbeaten league run to 11 games. We’ll be hoping for more away success at Norwich on Tuesday.
Guus Hiddink felt no reason to make any changes to the XI who began last weekend’s big cup over Man City, though there was a single alteration to the bench with Kenedy replacing Matt Miazga.John Terry remained out injured so once again Ivanovic captained from the centre of defence.
For Southampton, Charlie Austin started his first game in place of Graziano Pelle. Former Blues Ryan Bertrand and Oriol Romeu were also included in Ronald Koeman’s first selection in a fortnight.
Inside the opening seven minutes, Hiddink was forced to make a change to his unchanged team after Pedro pulled up clutching the back of his thigh. Oscar was the replacement, going central with Hazard on his right and Willian his left.
There was another moment of concern for the Blues when Long got above Azpilicueta to meet Van Dijk’s weighted cross. Thibaut Courtois was in no-man’s land having misjudged a high ball lofted back into his box, but thankfully the Republic of Ireland forward headed over.
A couple of corners of our own caused problems minutes later, the second of which needed to be cleared off the line after Diego Costa had forced it goalwards.
By the midway point of the opening half it was Southampton who had settled the quicker, adapting their flexible wing-back formation to suit their needs dependent on whether they were attacking or defending. Steven Davis did have to resort to illegal means to halt the breaking Fabregas on one threatening Blues attack, however, going into the book for his troubles.
Frazer Forster was tested for the first time by Oscar, but his daisy-cutter from outside the box was never going to truly threaten the keeper’s long run without conceding, which when the 34-minute mark was reached became a new Southampton club record.
Soon after chucking his mask to the sidelines, Diego Costa fired over. Austin then went closer at the other end, the ball fizzing narrowly past Courtois’ post.
The tempo of our play was better as the half reached its final third, with plenty more Chelsea possession than earlier in the encounter, but it counted for nothing when our hosts broke the deadlock on 42 minutes.
Baba Rahman headed a bouncing ball sideways towards Ivanovic but the ever-alert Long nipped in, took a touch forward and clipped his finish over the advancing Courtois, and inside the far post.
An Oscar cutback deflected off Bertrand but trickled agonisingly past the wrong side of the woodwork as we sought an instant response before the interval.
Hiddink opted for a switch at half-time, bringing Kenedy on for Baba at left-back.
Massed ranks of red-and-white shirts continued to place themselves between the ball and the Southampton goal as we started the second period on the front foot. A clear opening did arrive from a Willian corner on 52 minutes, but John Mikel Obi headed wide after Cahill had kept the situation alive.
A lightening quick Chelsea break before the hour – involving Oscar, Fabregas, Willian and finally Hazard – ended with the unmarked Diego Costa volleying the Belgium’s brilliant first-time cross well wide. It was our clearest opportunity so far.
The striker went into ref Atkinson’s book for a trip on Van Dijk and then was the subject of an overly zealous aerial challenge from Bertrand. He too was shown a yellow card, as was Clasie for a late tackle on Willian. What had been a rather pedestrian match had suddenly found an edge.
Austin was then denied a clear run at goal by a forceful Cahill challenge. The home side wanted a penalty and they had further protestations when we equalised with a quarter-of-an-hour to go.
Hazard’s pass slipped Diego Costa into space in the left-hand channel. He just about kept the ball in before feeding Fabregas. Hazard had continued his run and the Spaniard was probably looking to pick him out with a cross; instead it missed everyone and drifted past Forster and into the net. It was the slice of good fortune we needed to break through the resolute home rear-guard.
The Saints were understandably shocked at conceding a goal - the first time they had done so in almost two months - and nearly found themselves behind immediately. Willian’s low cross reached Diego Costa at the back post and only a superb sliding tackle from Fonte denied him a goal.
We kept pressing forward, sensing Southampton uncertainty, and with a couple of minutes to go grabbed the winner. Willian sent a corner over from the right and there was Ivanovic to thunder a header past Forster, who got a hand to it but couldn’t match the ferocity of the effort. The Serbian was mobbed by his joyous team-mates in front of the ecstatic travelling support.
Four minutes of added time were safely negotiated with the late introduction of Nemanja Matic helping shore things up, leaving Hiddink and his men to celebrate another notable victory which moves us up to 11th.
- Match stats:
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ivanovic (c), Baba Rahman (Kenedy h/t); Mikel, Fabregas; Pedro (Oscar 7), Willian, Hazard (Matic 90+3); Diego Costa.
Unused subs Begovic, Loftus-Cheek, Traore, Remy.
Scorers Fabregas 75, Ivanovic 89
Booked Diego Costa 63
Southampton (3-5-2): Forster; Van Dijk, Fonte (c), Bertrand; Soares, S.Davis, Clasie, Romeu, Targett (Ward-Prowse 89); Long (Pelle 69), Austin (Mane 79).
Unused subs Stekelenburg, Yoshida, Martina, Tadic.
Scorer Long 42
Booked S.Davis 19, Bertrand 64, Clasie 65
Referee Martin Atkinson
Crowd 31,688
- Match report by chelseafc.com
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