Chelsea don't seem to be enjoying the best of luck in front of goal recently, as the woodwork, VAR and goalline clearances continue to come to our opponents' rescue, and that was the case again at the Bridge as our best effort at finding the net, from Raheem Sterling, was hacked away from under the bar by Armel Bella-Kotchap.

That came after a difficult first half when we struggled to stamp our authority on the game, and which ended in painful circumstances as James Ward-Prowse gave Southampton the lead in added time, curling a free-kick from the edge of the box beyond the reach of Kepa Arrizabalaga and into the bottom corner.

Chelsea tried to fight back after the break, with substitute Sterling and Noni Madueke threatening from wide, but couldn't find a way past the Saints defence in an increasingly frustrating second half, which was halted for a long time as Cesar Azpilicueta received treatment after catching a boot in the face, prior to our skipper leaving the pitch on a stretcher, and ended in acrimonious circumstances with a flurry of bookings as tempers flared.

The selection

David Fofana was handed his full Chelsea debut in place of Kai Havertz, having previously made two substitute appearances for the Blues. He was supported in attack by Joao Felix.

The other big news was the return of Mateo Kovacic in midfield, replacing Ruben Loftus-Cheek for his first start since the trip to Fulham over a month ago, following injury, joined by Enzo Fernandez in midfield. It was all change on the flanks, as Noni Madueke and Mason Mount replaced Mykhailo Mudryk and Hakim Ziyech.

Kepa Arrizabalaga continued as goalkeeper, with Ben Chilwell and Kalidou Koulibaly retaining their places in our defence ahead of him, but Cesar Azpilicueta and Benoit Badiashile replaced Reece James and Thiago Silva beside them, the Spaniard captaining the side.

Before kick-off there was a solemn pause as Stamford Bridge rose to its feet for a minute's applause in memory of former Chelsea winger Christian Atsu and the many other victims of the dreadful earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The Blues were also wearing black armbands in honour of Atsu.

Recovery from a shaky start

There was a nervy moment for the Blues early on, as the visitors tried to put Badiashile under pressure. Running back towards his own goal in the box, his attempted clearance was blocked by Kamaldeen Sulemana. The pacy forward's quick shot was saved by Kepa with an outstretched leg and Koulibaly was on hand to block Southampton’s follow-up effort, but it was a warning that the Chelsea players would need to be on their toes today.

It was something of an early turning point, as prior to that it had been Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu who had to be alert to twice smother the ball as we tried to find the run of Mount, but after that chance, and the game’s first booking for Koulibaly, the Saints enjoyed a prolonged spell of possession. Paul Onuachu wasn’t far away from finding the bottom-left corner of Kepa’s net when he met Ward-Prowse’s dangerous cross with a header, either.

We began to push back as the game approached the 15-minute mark, as Madueke showed strength and determination to fight for possession out on the right before charging at the Southampton defence and striking a low shot across goal. However, Bazunu got down well to save and Southampton were able to scramble it behind for a corner, from which David Fofana could only find the side-netting after a bit of penalty-box pinball.

Fofana was starting to show a real spark on his full debut, with Bella-Kotchap receiving Southampton’s first yellow card for a cynical foul to halt his progress after the Chelsea striker’s pace had taken him away from two men in the middle of the pitch.

The first quarter of the match passed largely without incident, though, as both teams felt their way into the game, but the individual skill and pace of Madueke and Fofana looked like Chelsea’s most promising route forwards so far.

Somewhat surprisingly, it was skipper Cesar Azpilicueta who next went close to opening the scoring, as Fofana cleverly flicked Kovacic’s pass into his path in the box, but Azpi also only found the side-netting from a tight angle, with Bazunu untroubled.

Behind at the break

The tempo from both teams increased slightly in the final 10 minutes before half-time and it initially looked like the Blues would finish the opening 45 minutes the strongest, with Fofana firing straight at the keeper from outside the box and Kovacic having a powerful shot charged down after quick feet from the Ivorian striker.

However, in first-half stoppage time, Southampton found the first goal. Stuart Armstrong went down under a challenge by Azpilicueta just outside the box and up stepped their set-piece specialist Ward-Prowse. The Saints captain promptly curled his free-kick over the wall and into the bottom corner, leaving Kepa no chance and Chelsea trailing 1-0 at half-time.

Potter clearly wasn’t happy with going in a goal behind, as he chose to make two changes to his team during the break. Raheem Sterling and Wesley Fofana were the two coming on, both making their return from injury, Fofana for his first appearance since the Champions League trip to AC Milan in early October. David Fofana and Koulibaly were the players making way.

Lifting the intensity

That saw Mount move into a more central role, with Sterling on the left, and the two England internationals nearly combined for an equaliser right away, but Mount couldn’t find the net as he met Raheem’s cross with his head on the penalty spot. Sterling then had a go himself, after Badiadshile had burst forward into the box, but his shot was deflected wide.

It was a promising start to the second half by Chelsea, pegging Southampton back and showing a lot more urgency, helped by the lively Sterling hugging the touchline, and he was soon joined by two more substitutes in the form of Kai Havertz and Mykhailo Mudryk with almost half-an-hour still to play.

Pushing for an equaliser

The best chance yet came not long afterwards, in a move started by Wesley Fofana, who was having an excellent return to action at the back. He handed possession over to Enzo, who found Sterling on the right. The winger cut inside and beat two men before sliding a pass through to Havertz. The German waited before squaring back into the path of Sterling, but his low drive was smothered by a crowd of Southampton bodies in the box.

We were even closer just moments later and it was via the same combination. This time Havertz cleverly got his body between the defender and the ball to break free, before finding Sterling with a lovely floated cross. Our No.17 beat the goalkeeper with his header and was almost celebrating, only to see his effort cleared off the line by Bella-Kotchap. He tried to follow up with a volley as the rebound looped down out of the sky, but that was blocked too.

Worrying moment for Azpi

The momentum we were building was abruptly ended for the worst of reasons, though, as the game was halted for a long period while Azpilicueta received treatment for what seemed to be a serious head injury. The Blues captain was caught by Sekou Mara's flying boot as he headed a Southampton free-kick clear and the Spaniard appeared to lose consciousness as he slumped to the floor.

There were loud gasps around Stamford Bridge and both sets of medical teams rushed to provide treatment, with the game paused for close to 10 minutes before Azpi was stretchered off the pitch to the applause of the Chelsea supporters, having recovered sufficiently to raise a hand to show the fans he was awake, but clearly in no condition to continue.

By the time the game restarted there was only a few minutes left on the clock, although 12 more minutes were added by the officials for that lengthy stoppage. But even that wasn't enough for the Blues to find the chance we needed to salvage a point after losing our momentum from what had been our best period of the game, despite Gallagher having an effort save by Bazunu deep into injury time.

What's next?

We are heading across London for a derby in next week's Premier League fixture, as we take on Tottenham Hotspur away at 1.30pm on Sunday 26 February.

Chelsea (4-4-2): Kepa; Azpilicueta (c) (Chalobah 84), Koulibaly (W Fofana h-t), Badiashile, Chilwell (Gallagher 84); Madueke (Mudryk 64), Enzo, Kovacic, Mount (Havertz 64); Joao Felix, D Fofana (Sterling h-t)
Unused subs: Bettinelli, Hall, Zakaria
Booked: Koulibaly 4, Kepa 87, Kovacic 90+7

Southampton (4-2-3-1): Bazunu; Maitland-Niles (Lyanco 90+5), Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Perraud; Ward-Prowse (c), Lavia (Diallo 87); Sulemana (Mara 59), S Armstrong (Walcott 59), Elyounoussi (Alcaraz 87); Onuachu (A Armstrong 59)
Unused subs: Caballero, Walker-Peters, Djenepo
Scorer: Ward-Prowse 45+1
Booked: Bella-Kotchap 16, S Armstrong 45+4, Mara 75, Lavia 87, Ward-Prowse 90+7, Perraud 90+8

Referee: David Coote

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