It was a frustrating night for Chelsea as they came up against a resolute Southampton side who were determined not to give anything away.
Visiting goalkeeper Angus Gunn put in a man of the match display on his Premier League debut, making key saves from Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata, while the Spaniard had a second-half goal ruled out for offside.
Another headache for Maurizio Sarri was the injury to Willian sustained in the first half, adding to Chelsea’s current injury problems with wide players.
Sarri made just one change from that which started at Selhurst Park on Sunday. Alvaro Morata replaced the injured Olivier Giroud in attack, after the Frenchman limped out of the win over Crystal Palace. Cesc Fabregas and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were deemed fit to return to the squad and both were on the bench.
Saints’ new boss Ralph Hasenhuttl made eight changes following their defeat to Manchester City, with England Under-21 goalkeeper Gunn coming in for his league debut in place of Alex McCarthy. Former Blue Oriol Romeu captained the visitors but Ryan Bertrand missed out with injury .
The Blues began well and Gunn was quickly called into action to prevent an Eden Hazard through-ball reaching Willian, and then saved from Morata’s header after Cesar Azpilicueta had picked out his fellow Spaniard with a raking long pass into the area.
At the other end, Kepa Arrizabalaga had to race from his area to head clear before watching a Danny Ings header fly over the bar. That was a rare attack for Southampton though, who were set up largely to limit the Blues’ threat rather than offer their own.
Much of the first half followed the pattern from Sunday at Palace. Chelsea were dominating possession but unable to create clear-cut chances against a well-organised opponent. Willian cut inside before smashing a shot against Maya Yoshida and then nearly played in Hazard as the Blues countered quickly.
Chelsea’s best chance of the first period came just after the half-hour mark when another ball from deep, this time from Toni Rudiger, found Hazard who hit hard and high, Gunn saving it somewhat fortuitously with his face when he was unable to get his hands up quickly enough.
Sarri revealed on Sunday injury concerns with a number of his squad, pointing to a shortage of wide players with Pedro and Callum Hudson-Odoi already out. He will have been cursing his luck to see Willian limp off towards the end of the first half, replaced by Loftus-Cheek, who had played right wing at times for England during the World Cup.
Last Night’s result means Chelsea remain fourth and have 44 points. Southampton, who keep a first clean sheet since October, drop to 18th on 16 points.