Chelsea\u2019s season sunk to a new and alarming low as they were beaten 1-0 at Stamford Bridge by the Premier League\u2019s bottom side Southampton.<\/p>\n
A converted free-kick from James Ward-Prowse on the stroke of half-time put the Saints\u2019 captain one goal behind David Beckham in the competition\u2019s all-time standings, and sent Graham Potter\u2019s team to a fourth consecutive winless match in the league.<\/span><\/p>\n With five of the club\u2019s eight January signings in the staring XI, Potter saw his team labour to find any invention against a Saints side set up by interim boss Ruben Selles to frustrate the hosts\u2019 expensively assembled attacking cavalry. Victory in their first match since the sacking of Nathan Jones was everything they deserved, Live Score reports.<\/span><\/p>\n Chelsea have scored just once at home in 2023, and the lack of a recognised striker was made painfully apparent yet again.<\/span><\/p>\n The game started ominously for Potter. Benoit Badiashile, so impressive until now in Chelsea blue, was caught out by Kamaldeen Sulemana as the ball dropped over his shoulder, only for Southampton\u2019s January signing to be denied a first Premier League goal by the foot of Kepa Arrizabalaga. From the follow-up, Kalidou Koulibaly steered Stuart Armstrong\u2019s effort to safety from in front of the goal line.<\/span><\/p>\n Southampton\u2019s game plan hinged on frustrating Chelsea by slowing the play down wherever possible, but there was little in the first half to suggest the hosts\u2019 advanced midfield three of Mason Mount, Noni Madueke and Joao Felix held the key to unlocking Saints.<\/span><\/p>\n Five minutes before half-time, David Fofana \u2013 in for his first Chelsea start \u2013 snatched at a shot from 20 yards that revealed more about\u00a0his team\u2019s first-half frustrations than their attacking ambition.<\/span><\/p>\n Southampton took the lead in a familiar fashion. Ward-Prowse\u2019s free-kick, the 17th he has now scored in the Premier League, could not have been more finely placed, arcing over Chelsea\u2019s wall and dropping crisply into the bottom corner beyond Arrizabalaga\u2019s despairing dive. Stamford Bridge, quiet until now, made its displeasure known.<\/span><\/p>\n The required response almost arrived within minutes of the second half starting. Raheem Sterling, on as a substitute to make his return from injury, shoved Ainsley Maitland-Niles off the ball near the touchline and whipped in a cross that Mount, rising highest, failed to connect with.<\/span><\/p>\n It heralded a change in intensity for Chelsea\u2019s attack. Minutes later, Cesar Azpilicueta found himself unmarked inside the box but could only side-foot his shot wide as the ball dropped. On the hour mark, Graham Potter sent on Kai Havertz and Mykhailo Mudryk to try to harness his side\u2019s newly acquired energy, as the game shifted permanently into Southampton\u2019s defensive half.<\/span><\/p>\n Chelsea were getting closer. Havertz escaped down the left and delivered for Sterling, arriving at the back post to fling his head at the ball \u2013 he was denied first by a flying block from Romain Perraud, then again on the rebound by Romeo Lavia. The pair celebrated as if top-flight safety had already been secured.<\/span><\/p>\n Arrizabalaga saved at the feet of Armstrong as Saints threatened to extend their lead on the break. There was yet more worry for Chelsea when Azpilicueta was carried from the field on a stretcher with an oxygen mask after being struck in the head by the boot of Sekou Mara as he attempted to clear.<\/span><\/p>\n But inspiration for Chelsea would not strike. Southampton held on for a deserved win.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chelsea\u2019s season sunk to a new and alarming low as they were beaten 1-0 at Stamford Bridge by the Premier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":591,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions\/591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}