Southampton 2-1 Chelsea: Thomas Tuchel’s side lose AGAIN on the road
Thomas Tuchel was back in the dugout after his touchline ban but all he got was a closer view of another away-day to forget for his Chelsea team.
Nine days after they were overrun by relentless, all-action Leeds, Southampton did more of the same to Chelsea, extending the stop-start nature of the Londoners’ opening to this new season.
After their victory against Leicester, Southampton brought an instant halt to Chelsea’s hopes of building some momentum. In impressive fashion too.
Adam Armstrong’s late first half effort gave Southampton a rare victory over Chelsea at St Mary’s on Tuesday evening
There are times when the south coast club’s faith in youth will look like a gamble. And there are times when it will look like a masterstroke of a philosophy.
This was more of the latter.
Their youthful energy made them hard to stifle at certain times and hard to beat at others.
Romeo Lavia put in another assured performance in the centre of the park for Southampton capping his performance with the equalising goal
The scorer of their equaliser, gifted, teenage midfielder Romeo Lavia encapsulated that, marking another mature performance with his first ever senior goal before succumbing to injury.
Meanwhile, German youngster, centre-back Armel Bella-Kotchap, was one of Southampton’s standout performers at the back but far from the only one.
Both prospects arrived in the summer as part of Southampton’s youth recruitment drive as they look to build around promising talent.
It was not hard to see why it was felt that Lavia and Bella-Kotchap fit the bill and why any more arrivals before Thursday’s deadline maybe of the same mould.
Meanwhile, after this timely reminder, Chelsea will be grateful to still have the opportunity to add what further quality they can, wherever they can in the next 48 hours.
Chelsea struggled to live with the intense running of Southampton and lost grip of the game after Saints equalised
For all their possession in the second half, when they really needed to, they were unable to fashion the opportunities to make it count.
The opening was a sign of things to come, particularly from Southampton.
It was a high-energy start on a St Mary’s pitch that had been ravaged by a disease which would normally have cured were it not for the heat.
From the home side’s perspective that was a good idea after a similar approach helped Leeds overcome Chelsea last time Thomas Tuchel’s side were on the road.
Chelsea, missing the ill Reece James, injured N’Golo Kante and suspended Conor Gallagher, at least looked a little better-prepared for it this time, though they were ultimately still undone.
Mohammed Elyounoussi tested Edouard Mendy with the game’s first attempt but, as the game began to settle down, the visitors started to have their own encouraging moments.
Armstrong caused Chelsea’s back four plenty of problems throughout and Thomas Tuchel’s side struggled on the night
A defence splitting ball from Portsmouth-born Mason Mount – booed as ever against Southampton – sent Raheem Sterling away but he shot straight at Gavin Bazunu.
A speedy move down the left started by Marc Cucurella’s quick throw in and continued by Kai Havertz’s back-heel ended with Mohammed Salisu booting the ball clear.
Salisu was then needed again to halt Mount before his centre-back partner Armel Bella-Kotchap produced an applause-earning piece of expert defending that belied his 20 years.
Raheem Sterling had given Chelsea a deserved lead but thereafter they lost grip on the game on a difficult night in Southampton
Faced with Sterling running at him supported by teammates to his left, Bella-Kotchap delayed and delayed, refusing to commit and make up the England man’s mind, before producing a perfectly timed interception to dispossess. That was though, just a temporary reprieve for Southampton.
Seconds later, Chelsea flooded forwarded again, Havertz and Mount combined to tee up Sterling who spun and fired in at the second attempt.
Southampton responded with two efforts from Kyle Walker-Peters and Romain Perraud that were blocked and, in a wonderfully open spell, Havertz fired straight at Bazunu after a brilliant cross-field pass from Ziyech, handed his first start of the season in place of Gallagher, despite his openness to a move away.
Questions could be raised about Edouard Mendy for Southampton’s equalising goal after he got a palm to Lavia’s effort
Chelsea then gifted Southampton an equaliser and it was not a great sequence of events captain Cesar Azpilicueta will keen to re-watch.
Firstly, he needlessly conceded a corner with a poor backpass and then compounded that by swiping the resulting corner straight to Romeo Lavia who buried the ball past Mendy, becoming the first 2004-born player to score in the Premier League.
The way the promising Belgian midfielder set himself before thumping the ball in so emphatically you would not have known that was his first ever senior goal.
Just as two minutes of added time were announced, Adam Armstrong then opened his account for the season. It was a patient move that he finished off as Ibrahima Diallo and James Ward-Prowse worked the ball wide to Perraud.
After a difficult summer in which questions were raised over Ralph Hasenhuttl he and his side have enjoyed a solid start to their league campaign
Armel Bella-Kotchap put in a stunning display of defensive assuredness keeping out Chelsea’s array of attacking talent
As all of Chelsea’s defenders rushed back to guard their goal, a composed Armstrong held his position to receive the cut back, took one touch to control and a second to fire the ball into the top corner.
Chelsea’s mood was not improved on the stroke of half-time when Adams kicked the ball in Jorginho’s face, with their complaints continuing long after the half-time whistle.
And they were fortunate not to concede a third when Southampton raided down the left again and Perraud crossed for the unmarked Elyounoussi.
He looked to have the easy task of heading in but Cucurella flew across to block, seemingly with his shoulder.
Bella-Kotchap congratulates team-mate Romeo Lavia after he equalised for Southampton midway through the opening period
Having already brought on Mateo Kovacic at half-time, reinforcements further forward arrived midway through the half in former Saint Armando Broja and Christian Pulisic.
Though it was Southampton who went closer to extending their lead when Salisu’s header was back-heeled off the line by Thiago Silva.
Southampton spent the closing stages largely defending but Bella-Kotchap, Salisu and Co looked like they relished that and held on before the roof came off St Mary’s at full time.
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