FRASER FORSTER dropped his guard for one second and handed Chelsea victory.
Southampton’s giant goalkeeper produced a series of superb saves as the Premier League champions laid siege to his goal in the first half.
But he was beaten two minutes into injury time before the break with his first mistake of the match and paid the price.
Marcos Alonso curled a stunning free kick inside the post from 25 yards out to finally get the better of Saints’ 6ft 5ins colossus in goal.
Forster had earlier produced excellent stops to deny Gary Cahill’s pile-driver from outside the box, a deflected effort from N’Golo Kante and two other fine strikes from Alonso.
Even after Chelsea took the lead Forster didn’t let it affect his confidence and pulled off a great flying stop from yet another ferocious shot from Alonso. Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois was called upon to make only one serious attempt at a block when sun Charlie Austin broke free just a minute after coming on in the second half – only to see his shot palmed away by the lanky Belgian.
Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino dropped defender Virgil van Dijk for the first time since September 23rd after his team’s 4-1 home hammering by Leicester.
Constant speculation about a January move to Manchester City surrounds the Dutch centre half and maybe turned his head in terms of performance – resulting in the chop. Chelsea boss Antonio Conte rested striker Alavaro Morata who is nursing a back problem but brought on his ten-goal top scorer with 16 minutes to go to try to add to the lead, keep the ball in Saints’ half and see off the threat of a fightback.
Forster was man of the match despite the score and letting his concentration slip momentarily.
Chelsea were also denied when Pedro’s first half shot from inside the box, cannoned off the inside of defender Jack Stephens’ leg and hit the post.
From The S
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