Southampton Pick A Point At Stamford Bridge Against Chelsea
Frank Lampard said Chelsea need to cut out individual errors after they twice relinquished a lead to draw 3-3 with Southampton.
Jannik Vestergaard headed in a dramatic injury-time equaliser to claim the Saints a point, after Danny Ings and Che Adams had earlier brought the visitors back from 2-0 down to 2-2 at Stamford Bridge.
All the goals conceded by the Blues included defensive mistakes, with Kai Havertz needlessly losing possession in his own half for the first, a weak back-pass from Kurt Zouma and poor attempted block from goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga contributing to the second, and an unnecessarily conceded free-kick and poor attempted clearance enabling the third.
“We have to not give those goals away,” Lampard told BBC Sport. “We are making individual mistakes in games and it gives other teams chances at all times. It is something we need to get better at.
“It goes through the team. We are seeing a lot of goals in the Premier League at the moment and no manager is happy with that. We all want clean sheets. It has to be better.”
Chelsea were in control courtesy of two superb Timo Werner goals – the first courtesy of a sublime dummy which bamboozled Jan Bednarek before drilling in, and the second as he lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and nodded home.
When it looked like the hosts were cruising, Southampton hit back as Danny Ings went round keeper Arrizabalaga to finish and Adams punished dire Chelsea defending to smash home an equaliser.
The Blues responded just 121 seconds later with Werner sliding the ball across the box for compatriot Kai Havertz to convert an easy finish which seemed to be the winner, but Vestergaard’s late effort sealed a draw.
“You go 2-0 up and you want to finish the game, as at that point we were playing great football. The first half was as good as we have played this season,” added Lampard.
“Southampton are a good side and we allowed the pressure they want to put you under off the ball to gain traction.
“When they got their first goal, just before half-time, they put us under pressure and our game management could be better.
“My message at the break was that it shouldn’t change the game and the players should be happy with how they have played for 40 minutes. But we never reached those levels in the second half.”
