Chelsea winning streak ends at Southampton
Southampton, England, Feb 20 (efe’epa).- Chelsea on Saturday had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Southampton as their winning run stretching back to last month came to an end.
The Blues enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but failed to transfer their dominance on the pitch to the scoreboard.
Despite leaving St Mary’s frustrated ahead of their first leg Champions League last-16 clash against Atletico Madrid, Chelsea remain unbeaten since manager Thomas Tuchel joined at the end of January.
Southampton, who were looking to recover from a string of recent bad results, took the lead against the run of play shortly after the half-hour mark.
It was English midfielder Nathan Redmond who came inside and found Japanese forward Takumi Minamino with a smart through ball to score his second goal in his third appearance since joining the Saints on loan from Liverpool in the January transfer window.
Southampton kept the lead until the 54th minute, when Chelsea’s English midfielder Mason Mount delivered from the 12-yard spot after being fouled inside the area by a clumsy tackle from Southampton’s English forward Danny Ings.
Heading into the game, Chelsea had not dropped a point since playing out a scoreless draw with the Wolves on 27 January.
Chelsea hold the fourth spot in the Premier League table with 43 points, one point ahead of West Ham, who will host bitter rivals Tottenham on Sunday. Southampton, meanwhile, is 13th with 30 points from 24 matches.
The Blues are scheduled to play the first leg of the Champions League last-16 away against Atletico on 23 February, although it will be played in Bucharest instead of Madrid due to coronavirus restrictions in Spain on arrivals from the UK. EFE-EPA
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