Chelsea has been beaten by Southampton FC in a Premier League match played at St. Mary’s Stadium on Saturday. Southampton won the match by 2-1.
This defeat pushed Chelsea behind Tottenham Hotspur in the points table. The Blues are now at no. 4. However, they have played one match less than the Spurs.
Arsenal which is at no. 5 is only a couple of points behind Chelsea and the Blues need to play extremely well in the upcoming matches now, otherwise, their target of qualifying for the Champions League might not be achieved.
With some important games coming up, Rafa Benitez decided to rest some of his vital players in the match against Southampton. Ashley Cole, Eden Hazard and David Luiz, all sat on the bench and on their places, Ryan Bertrand, Victor Moses and Marko Marin got playing opportunity.
The Blues were never in control. Right from the start, Southampton was dominating and they eventually got the reward for their aggression in the 23rd minute. Jay Rodriguez opened the scoring for the Saints.
The Blues levelled 10 minutes later. John Terry was the one who scored the leveller. He headed Oscar’s corner kick into the net and brought the visitors back into the match.
But, the Chelsea supporters couldn’t celebrate for too long. Just after a couple of minutes, Chelsea was down again. That goal came off a free kick. Rickie Lambert whipped the ball powerfully into the top corner of the net.
In the second half, Chelsea’s performance dipped down even further and they were looking all over the place. They never looked like scoring a leveller in the second half.
Chelsea will face Manchester United in its next match. That will be a FA Cup match and will be played at Stamford Bridge on Monday.
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