LIVE BLOG
FULL TIME: 1-1.
90+3min: Zouma concedes a corner, which comes in over the head of everyone.
90min: After all that timewasting by the home side, only 3 minutes added on. McCarthy booked for timewasting in the added-on time, even.
89min: Mount able to wriggle through again, but his cross is cleared well in the six-yard box.
88min: Mount long shot, just over the bar.
84min: Mount turns into a winger and beats three before clipping a ball in from the left to a wide open Reece James. He goes for the first-time side-footed finish, but hits well over the bar, much to Tuchel’s frustrations in the dugout.
81min: Alonso, Jorginho with fouls on Djenepo in quick succession. Alonso gets a yellow. Djenepo stays down again after the Jorginho foul, wasting a few minutes.
78min: Mount with a great ball towards Ziyech, nick away at the last second for a corner. Rüdiger gets his head to it, finding Azpilicueta in acres of space in front of the goalkeeper. He’s clearly offside, but no flag comes in for ages. Goalkeeper makes the save anyway.
76min: Kovačić and Hudson-Odoi off for Jorginho and Ziyech as Tuchel shifts his tactics.
75min: James with a barnstorming run down the right, cuts it back to no one in particular
74min: James with a fantastic ball finds Hudson-Odoi in the area. He tries to pick someone out, but can only win a corner. Mount takes it short to Hudson-Odoi, but he can’t generate a cross and Southampton eventually win a throw.
73min: Chelsea come alive for a second, with Mount and CHO combining for a shot from the former from the edge of the area, which draws a good save. Hudson-Odoi called offside anyway.
71min: Chelsea concede another unnecessary corner. Southampton flick it on, but it goes long and have to collect on the far side. Redmond puts in a great cross from there however, which Vestergaard heads onto the bar with Mendy only able to watch and pray.
70min: Chelsea dropping levels too much and it’s Southampton continuing to come into the game. They win a corner, which Mendy catches.
64min: Southampton with a spell of possession as Chelsea press and eventually force an aimless long ball.
60min: Kovačić doesn’t get the call in midfield and Southampton can attack 4-v-4. Good cover by Zouma as he shields the ball out of play.
58min: James, Mount, and Alonso conference over the ball. The latter takes, but hits the wall. Mount’s follow-up is blocked and Alonso’s called for a foul anyway.
57min: Mount here, there, everywhere, wins a free kick 20 yards out, just right of center.
54min: GOAL!!! CHELSEA! Mason Mount takes his own penalty, and sends the goalkeeper the wrong way with nonchalant ease. 1-1!!
53min: Chelsea combine well on the right, but James’s low ball in blocked for a corner. Chelsea take it short and play around quickly, finding Mount back inside the area. He gets absolutely wiped out by Ings, who was back to defend the corner. Penalty!
51min: Alonso again finds Werner, this time further infield. He gets past Vestergaard but the angle is too narrow and he can only pass it into the side of the net.
49min: Alonso sends Werner down the left wing, but his low cross towards Mount is defended well enough by a combination of Romeu and Salisu.
48min: Alonso in space, but the pass curls towards him and he has to check back. His cross does find Werner, but he can’t quite settle the ball for a shot. The play’s then pulled back for an Alonso offside anyway.
47min: James breaking through on the right, but his pass infield doesn’t reach Mount.
SECOND HALF: Hudson-Odoi for Abraham at the break. Similar change to the Burnley match. Improvement required.
HALF-TIME: Chelsea behind. Football’s silly.
45+2min: Werner gets past three then finds Abraham in the area. He’s tackled by Salisu, cleanly? Looks worse in replay, but VAR’s unmoved.
45min: Three minutes added on for Djenepo.
42min: Djenepo makes a great sliding challenge on Kanté, and comes off worse thanks to Kanté’s studs. A bit of treatment, and he’s good to go.
40min: Mount and Alonso try to combine in the box for a shot from the latter, but he doesn’t quite have the space to do so.
39min: Werner fouled by Romeu, 30 yards out, central. Alonso chips it in, finding Zouma’s head, who forces a save. Mount takes the subsequent corner, but Southampton head clear. Zouma was probably offside on the initial chance.
36min: Chelsea not reacting too well to the goal just yet, losing the ball left and right. Werner has to track back to help out.
33min: Goal. Southampton. Out of nowhere, Chelsea lose Minamino in the middle, and he’s found by a simple through ball. The Liverpool loanee sits both the goalkeeper and Azpilicueta down, as Zouma gives up on the play, and passes it into the back of the net. 1-0, Southampton.
33min: Kanté wins the ball from Minamino then immediately looks long for Werner. But it’s just out of his reach as the goalkeeper’s off his line quickly.
31min: Alonso gets trod on by Romeu, but the referee plays advantage, which quickly comes to nothing. Chelsea win the ball back as Southampton try to counter, with Kanté finding Werner with a nice through ball. But only Abraham’s in the area and Werner’s cutback is easily cleared.
29min: Rüdiger settles for a 30-yard shot. McCarthy drops a knee to save easily.
28min: Chelsea try to pass through the middle, but it doesn’t quite come off. Good pressure from Werner forces the goalkeeper to pass straight out of bounds. It’s still all Chelsea in possession, but the early threat has petered out a bit.
24min: Bednarek and Alonso have a coming together off the ball in the area, with the latter coming off worse. He’s good to continue after a brief stoppage however. Meanwhile, Chilwell’s off the bench to start warming up, alongside a couple others.
23min: Alonso’s next cross finds James on the far post, but he’s closed down by a couple to prevent a shot or a cross.
22min: Zouma swings a massive ball wide to Alonso, who controls it excellently but gets his cross blocked for a corner. Mount plays it short to James, who lays it back to Alonso, but his cross is tall and loops straight into the arms of the goalkeeper. Tuchel not too happy with that passage of play.
20min: The teams take a brief breather after that intense start, before Mount pops up in the middle to beat a couple players and play wide to Alonso. He looks for Werner infield, but he can’t quite get the ball under control and Southampton can clear.
17min: Kovačić again breaks the lines and plays to Mount, who flicks to James, but again behind the run. James checks back then then finds Mount making the run inside out. Mount cuts infield past a couple, playing square to Werner. He passes up a shot to play through for Alonso, but the pass is too strong, much to Tuchel’s dismay on the sidelines.
16min: Redmond tries to make something happen on the left for Southampton again, but he can’t muscle James off the ball, who takes possession.
15min: Southampton have a throw in Chelsea’s third, but Kanté wins the ball from Redmonds in the area to prevent any danger.
13min: Chelsea pass it around then swing wide left to Alonso. He combines with Werner to cut infield, but his subsequent cross is blocked. Alonso alert to work back and foul Redmond and prevent a counter.
11min: Kanté wins the ball again high up, squaring it to Mount. His pass to James is a step late and behind the run, so James has to check back. Eventually Kanté comes over to help out and generate a cross, which McCarthy catches over Abraham.
8min: Excellent press by Werner almost wins possession, but Southampton get lucky and get a throw instead. Chelsea win the ball from there however with Kanté, who looks for Abraham, but he can’t quite get to the through ball as the defender buys a free kick from the referee by slipping.
6min: Chelsea play through Southampton’s press excellently, with Werner turning well at halfway to run away from his marker. He plays infield to Mount, who stumbles a bit but recovers to find James. He clips the ball back across to Alonso, who goes for the volley, but doesn’t make clean contact and hits it wide of the far post. Excellent play, lacking the finish.
3min: Kovačić breaks the press then switches wide to James. He looks for Werner cutting left to right, but the through ball is just out of his reach.
1min: Southampton go long, to no effect, but then put on the high press to set the early tone.
KICK-OFF: The players are out, Chelsea in all blue with white socks, the home side in red shirts and socks with black shorts. They take a knee, and then we’re underway, with Southampton getting us started.
Chelsea play first of any top-half team, which means we could close to within just a point of second and third at least temporarily with a win, and put pressure on all those right behind us.
Southampton have been in terrible form, but that just means they’ll be even more desperate to cause an upset.
We have massive games coming up, but right now, none more important than this one. Although, Tuchel does rotate a couple of his usual starters, including Jorginho and Hudson-Odoi.
Here we go!
Southampton starting lineup (5-2-3):
McCarthy | Bertrand, Vestergaard, Salisu, Bednarek, Djenepo | Romeu, Ward-Prowse (c) | Minamino, Ings, Redmond
Substitutes from: Forsters, Ramsay, Stephens, Jankewitz, Chauke, Ferry, Tella, Adams, Nlundulu
Chelsea starting lineup (3-4-3):
Mendy | Rüdiger, Zouma, Azpilicueta (c) | Alonso, Kanté, Kovačić, James | Werner, Abraham, Mount
Substitutes from: Arrizabalaga, Christensen, Emerson, Chilwell, Gilmour, Jorginho, Hudson-Odoi, Ziyech, Giroud
Date / Time: Saturday, February 20, 2021, 12.30 GMT; 7:30am EST; 6pm IST
Venue: St Mary’s, Southampton, England
Referee: Anthony Taylor (on pitch); Stuart Attwell (VAR)
On TV: BT Sport 1 (UK); NBCSN, Universo (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: BT Sport Live (UK); NBC Sports Live, Universo Now (USA); Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!