10-man Saints hold Chelsea

A stubborn performance from Southampton saw them hold leaders Chelsea to a 1-1 draw to blow the Premier League title race wide open at St Mary’s.
Eden Hazard struck his first away goal since January to cancel out Sadio Mane’s second goal in as many games, but Jose Mourinho’s men were unable to break down their hosts to find a winner, despite Morgan Schneiderlin’s red card late on.
Mane opened the scoring on 17 minutes when he latched on to Dusan Tadic’s clipped ball over the top before calmly knocking the ball beyond Thibaut Courtois in the Chelsea goal.
There was plenty of promise about Chelsea’s approach in the final third and Andre Schurrle was inches away from hooking home after Diego Costa had chipped a ball to the back post shortly after the opener.
Mourinho’s men continued to press for the equaliser and Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic combined inside the area before Hazard was crowded out by a stubborn Saints defence on the half-hour mark.
Hazard’s hard work was rewarded before the half time when he streaked away Yoshida down the left after running onto Cesc Fabregas’ measured pass, before cutting in and curling past Fraser Forster into the bottom corner.
Mourinho swapped Willian for the ineffective Schurrle at half time and the Brazilian was on the end of a incisive move 10 minutes after the restart but his two goal-bound strikes were well blocked in quick succession.
The Blues were at the centre of another diving debate when Fabregas was brought down by young defender Matt Targett, but the Spain international was perhaps unfortunate to be booked for the incident.
Hazard almost gave the visitors the lead when he flashed a left-footed strike past the post on the hour mark and it was Mourinho’s men who looked most likely of changing the scoreline.
Southampton continued to frustrate their illustrious visitors though, and Mourinho sent on Didier Drogba in place of midfielder John Obi Mikel in an attempt to change things on 75 minutes.
Moments later Ronald Koeman’s side were fortunate to escape when James Ward-Prowse’s under-hit backpass fell to Diego Costa, before the ex-Atletico Madrid hitman slipped at a crucial moment when through on goal.