(Football news) A superb freekick by James Ward-Prowse (45+1) helped Southampton secure a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. The Saints are without a manager at the moment as interim boss Ruben Selles is in-charge but three points against the Premier League high spenders will undoubtedly be a result they would be pleased with and it’ll go a long way in their survival hopes in England’s top flight.
As for Chelsea, pressure is mounting on Graham Potter and it will be concerning that his side couldn’t breach bottom team Southampton’s defence. The Blues have scored only twice in their last six games and are 10th on the table with 31 points, four points behind 9th place Brentford.
In team news, Thiago Silva, Reece James and Marc Cucurella didn’t feature after playing against West Ham which meant Cesar Azpilicueta, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ben Chilwell featured in defence. Mateo Kovacic replaced the absent Ruben Loftus-Cheek while Mason Mount came in for Mykhailo Mudryk and David Fofana started up front in place of Kai Havertz.
As for Southampton, the likes of Mohammed Salisu and James Bree didn’t feature which meant Armel Bella-Kothchap came in defence while Reuben Selles went on the offensive. Stuart Armstrong and Mohamed Elyounoussi were also recalled while Carlos Alcaraz featured on the bench.
Speaking after the match, under pressure manager Graham Potter said “After a 1-0 defeat at home, any criticism you get is understandable. We’ve had a tough period and lots of challenges in terms of integrating young players in the Premier League. When you don’t get results, it can be tough. That’s how it is. Some people will think I’m the problem. I don’t think they’re right but that doesn’t mean they can’t articulate their views. We took a step back in terms of our performance in the first half. The response in the second half was good but not good enough.
“I would tell him to keep doing what he’s doing. We made the decision to give David his opportunity with Raheem and Kai off the bench. When you don’t score, I can understand the question [why was Aubameyang not on the bench]. There’s no conspiracy. Sorry, I can’t give you that. I always come in and speak to you guys and understand the questions. When we’ve lost 1-0 at home to Southampton, it isn’t good enough because of the results we’ve had recently.”
Southampton interim boss Bullish Selles said “It was a fantastic performance from the team. We moved like a unit. We had a solid plan so I’m happy we gave ourselves the chance to win the game and to perform. We knew we would have a few moments in the game. It has been a very difficult year for us. You could see the reaction from the players after the blocks so I’m very happy for them. I identified with the principles that were there before. It’s not about the manager so we used a lot of what was there. The players then put it together with the details we gave them.
“First of all, I am a manager [when asked if he is ready to step up and become manager]. But the second thing, it is not for me [to decide]. We showed what we can do after a fantastic result. I don’t think too much about it [the relegation picture]. It’s about our performance and how good we can be. Now, we’re focused on Leeds. All I know is that if a team beats us, they will have to be very good as we will make it very hard. We’re a team that shows character and spirit.
“It was more about the result today as we showed a performance and a standard that we must now continue. In order to become a winner in life, first of all you need to lose and to learn from your losses. It is a process. We don’t know what will come next but we will now do all our best to win next week. The boys just threw me in! The game is about the players. I didn’t want to lead them [the celebrations]. I just wanted to say thank you to the fans for their support.”
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