Terry and Cahill ride to Blues' rescue to stun Saints
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John Terry and Gary Cahill stun Southampton with quickfire double for Chelsea
John Terry and Gary Cahill turned Chelseas home blues into joy with a quickfire second-half double to stun Southampton.
Jay Rodriguez gave the Saints a shock lead after just 23 seconds pouncing on a calamitous back pass from Michael Essien, but a Cahill second-half header evened things up.
Minutes later Chelsea were in front, when Matas cross was flicked in from captain Terry.
The Blues hadnt had it all their own way until that point, and found themselves one down in 30 seconds when Essien split his own defence with a miscued half-volley which Rodriguez ran on to to calmly slot past Petr Cech.
Oscar had two of Chelseas best chances to draw level before half-time, but the Brazilian saw his drive from the edge of the box parried by Artur Boruc, and was thwarted again by the Saints keeper who stopped his tame header on the line.
Boruc was again on hand to deny Fernando Torres just before the break diving at full stretch to keep out the Spaniards header.
The Blues didnt have to wait long to gain parity in the second-half though, and Cahill reacted well to nod home after 55 minutes.
A corner was headed towards Saints back post by Terry, and when Demba Bas stab came back off the upright, Cahill twisted well to glance in.
Ba then spurned a guilt-edged opportunity to put daylight between the sides, but he dragged his shot wide of the post when through on goal after 72 minutes.
However, Ba made no mistake with just one minute left on the clock, when he stretched to make contact with a Ramires cross, and his poke ran past substitute goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga to seal all three points for Jose Mourinhos men.
Teams:
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Essien, Ramires; Mata, Oscar, Hazard; Torres
Subs: Schwarzer, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Schurrle, Willian, Ba.
Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Fonte, Lovren, Shaw, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse, Lallana, Rodriguez, Osvaldo.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Yoshida, Lambert, S. Davis, Cork, Chambers, Hooiveld
John Terry and Gary Cahill turned Chelseas home blues into joy with a quickfire second-half double to stun Southampton.
Jay Rodriguez gave the Saints a shock lead after just 23 seconds pouncing on a calamitous back pass from Michael Essien, but a Cahill second-half header evened things up.
Minutes later Chelsea were in front, when Matas cross was flicked in from captain Terry.
The Blues hadnt had it all their own way until that point, and found themselves one down in 30 seconds when Essien split his own defence with a miscued half-volley which Rodriguez ran on to to calmly slot past Petr Cech.
Oscar had two of Chelseas best chances to draw level before half-time, but the Brazilian saw his drive from the edge of the box parried by Artur Boruc, and was thwarted again by the Saints keeper who stopped his tame header on the line.
Boruc was again on hand to deny Fernando Torres just before the break diving at full stretch to keep out the Spaniards header.
The Blues didnt have to wait long to gain parity in the second-half though, and Cahill reacted well to nod home after 55 minutes.
A corner was headed towards Saints back post by Terry, and when Demba Bas stab came back off the upright, Cahill twisted well to glance in.
Ba then spurned a guilt-edged opportunity to put daylight between the sides, but he dragged his shot wide of the post when through on goal after 72 minutes.
However, Ba made no mistake with just one minute left on the clock, when he stretched to make contact with a Ramires cross, and his poke ran past substitute goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga to seal all three points for Jose Mourinhos men.
Teams:
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Essien, Ramires; Mata, Oscar, Hazard; Torres
Subs: Schwarzer, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Schurrle, Willian, Ba.
Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Fonte, Lovren, Shaw, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse, Lallana, Rodriguez, Osvaldo.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Yoshida, Lambert, S. Davis, Cork, Chambers, Hooiveld
