Southampton pulled further away from the foot of the table with a hugely impressive 2-0 win at Chelsea on Boxing Day.
Match Report
Chelsea's recent home woes continued as they suffered a first Boxing Day defeat in the Premier League since 2003, going down 2-0 against a Southampton side who moved up to 14th.
Frank Lampard's side were outstanding in Sunday's victory over Tottenham but fell well short of the same standards four days later and could have few complaints after falling a third defeat in four top-flight matches at Stamford Bridge.
Michael Obafemi, who started as Southampton rested the in-form Danny Ings for the first of two games in 48 hours, lit up a poor first period with a fine run and finish after 31 minutes.
Chelsea upped their tempo after the interval following the introduction of Mason Mount and a switch to a back four, but the Saints - who have now won back-to-back away games to climb away from the relegation zone - were worthy winners and grabbed a second goal when Nathan Redmond finished a wonderful move with 17 minutes remaining.
Standings
Match Events
21' Tomori's header too straight
SAVE! Hudson-Odoi floats a dangerous cross to the back post where Tomori and Rudiger are lurking. Tomori rises to head at goal, but his effort is tame and straight at McCarthy.
31' GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Southampton (Obafemi)
The Saints take the lead on the road courtesy of a fine goal from Obafemi. Hojbjerg releases the run of the forward in the final third. There is plenty of work for Obafemi to do and he sprints away from Tomori before cutting inside on his left foot. Zouma affords him space and time to pick his spot and he lets fly with a fine strike that soars into the top-left corner.
38' Azpilicueta's shot stopped by McCarthy
McCarthy has to act for the first time in the game to divert a deflection from Armstrong away from goal. Azpilicueta tries to steer Willian's corner towards goal with an outstretched boot, it strikes Armstrong and heads towards the right corner of the net. McCarthy sees it and pushes it away from goal.
54' Hudson-Odoi's long shot over the bar
Willian works the ball to Hudson-Odoi from a short corner and he goes for a curling strike from the left side of the box that just sails over the crossbar, although McCarthy may have saved it anyway.
65' Kepa makes decent save to stop Redmond
Redmond and Armstrong combine with a neat one-two to cut open the Blues at the back. Redmond is through on goal, but he sees his low strike well saved by Kepa before Azpilicueta heads behind for a corner.
73' GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Southampton (Redmond)
The Saints notch a second goal with a sublime team move. It builds down the right as Cedric works the ball to Armstrong. He takes a neat touch to beat one challenge and then spots Redmond in space in the left inside channel. His lofted pass takes a deflection, but still finds his team-mate. Redmond sticks out his right boot to clip the ball over Kepa and into the back of the net.
76' Pulisic's shot stopped by McCarthy
Pulisic twists and turns and he squeezes out a strike on his left foot that takes a deflection and trickles behind for a corner.
King_Keynan
4134
We take 2 goals from Spurs and give to saints for merry Xmas ๐๐๐
sezbktuz
1806
Hello Lampard, Your ability to lead this great club is questionable. You are not determined to move forward. Your interest in putting English players above performers will lead to your early sack. Tammy Abraham has not scored a goal in how many games but you continue to make him your number 1. He's complacent because you created no competition for him. You choosed Mason Mount over a free goal scorer like Christian Polisic. We thought you were hungry but you are no different from the rest of the English managers who sit back and allow coaches to come from outside and win the league every year.
JamesWalker
1707
Chelsea WiFi doesn't connect at Home
ishti
1569
How can they destroy Spurs on Sunday.... Then put in that kind of pathetic performance against Southampton? Lost to Bournemouth, West Ham & Southampton all at The Bridge. Not even scoring ONCE IN THOSE GAMES! ๐ค
SyrusyVirusy
1110
If you are having troble getting asleep....watch chelsea play at home...its a sleeping pill
waeamnrz
1000
Today you have shown your lack of reasoning mr Lampard. Whether you defend yourself by labeling us as, fans always complain when you lose. This time you are the reason for this loss. very irritating
goodness22
921
Stamford bridge motto is now ; 3 points bridge.
hackeronly
653
Southampton successfully hacked Chelsea password and manipulated their codes
chetas29
616
no number 9 curse but a Stamford bridge curse
laehcim
579
ever since FIFA gave Chelsea to sign players in next transfer things are not going well for them, maybe those players are scared of replacement
Annant
431
Keep update with this website for latest GIF: http://bit.ly/2rt5dIn
lamsalparva
426
number of robinhoods club hasbeen increased in england
Nesaiknruy_Legend
184
Deserved to lose. From minute 1 to minute 90 our team was appalling in all aspects of the game other than 1 or 2 flashes of brilliance. I have to say despite not scoring, Tammy Abraham was probably our best player on the pitch and that's not saying much. The game just highlights that we need to have patience, if you're Lampard out then you're just a joke and a toxic being that should leave the club and support someone else. Also I hope now people can see it's not Zouma fault we lose, look at the 2nd goal Southampton walked around our team and had Zouma been there his presence in the air may have avoided that happening. Sadly you may not like hearing this but hes the jets pure defender at the club. The area of the field we lost this game at today was fullbacks. I think if we can get 2 very elite fullbacks, we can win these kind of games. Disappointing but we move on, players needed to be rested for Arsenal so Frank did the right thing in that sense but the game should have started and ended with 433 as I stated in my halftime post, 3421 is only good for big games where teams attack us....