Brave Southampton hold Chelsea to draw

Chelsea were frustrated by a determined Southampton as the two sides drew 1-1 at St Mary's Stadium.

Southampton were the more impressive of the two sides, bolstered by an easing of their recent injury crisis. Victor Wanyama and Morgan Scheiderlin dominated the midfield, with Mane stretching play ahead of them.

It was Sadio Mane who scored first, running onto Dusan Tadic's pass and finishing confidently past Thibaut Courtois. Chelsea struggled for rhythm, and it took a moment of excellence from Eden Hazard, who cut in from the right, beat three defenders and finish with a strike into the far corner, to bring them level.

In the second half, Chelsea built on the ending of the first half, and pinned Southampton back into their own half for much of the second period. Despite that, Chelsea created little opening, and Hazard came closest for Chelsea when he dragged a shot just wide of goal.

With 15 minutes of normal time remaining, Didier Drogba was introduced, and then Loic Remy. Morgan Schneiderlin received a second yellow for a foul on Cesc Fabregas, but there wasn't enough time for Chelsea to build on the advantage.

Jose Mourinho's side now risk being drawn into a title race, although Manchester City's meltdown at home to Burnley means Chelsea reach the halfway point of the Premier League season with a three-point cushion.

17' - GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Chelsea. Mane scores - Terry steps up, Mane goes towards the goal and chases Tadic's ball over the top. He strides towards goal and confidently lifts his shot over the should over Courtois.

45+1' - GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Chelsea. Hazard scores - Hazard collects the ball on the left, behind the defence. He cuts inside, skipping past three defenders, heading away from the goal, and drills a shot across the 'keeper, low into the far corner.

60' - HAZARD MISS - Hazard chests down a clever pass from Fabregas over the heads of the defenders, and spins around to fire a shot just wide of the far corner.

89' - SCHNEIDERLIN RED - Schneiderlin sees red for bringing down Fabregas as he attempted to break from midfield. It was his second yellow, and there were few complaints.

This is the ninth successive time that Southampton have failed to win a Premier League match held on a Sunday.

This is the fourth time Chelsea go into the end of the year top of the Premier League title.

Morgan Schneiderlin's red was Southampton's first since April 2013 when they played West Brom.

Boxing Day matches are a tradition to uphold, but the festive period is too busy to maintain quality performances. Chelsea have managed to play excellently for much of the season with a Premier League game coming every match, but they, Southampton and other teams today looked fatigued after the opening period of matches today. With the Champions League to come, it doesn't seem fair to make clubs play so many games in such a short space of time when they are demonstrably drained by it.

Eden Hazard (Chelsea): Sadio Mane started the brightest of the two teams, but after Hazard's goal he was clearly the best player. He often struggles to score away from home but without his intervention today, Chelsea would have floundered. He is key to their Premier League and Champions League hopes.

Southampton: Forster 6, Yoshida 6, Fonte 6, Alderweireld 6, Targett 6, Wanyama 6, S. Davis 6, Tadic 6, Mane 7, Scheiderlin 6, Pelle 6. Subs: Gardos 6, Long 6, Ward-Prowse 6.

Chelsea: Courtois 6, Ivanovic 6, Luis 5, Cahill 6, Terry 6, Fabregas 6, Matic 6, Hazard 6, Mikel 6, Schurrle 5, Costa 6. Subs: Cech, Drogba 6, Remy 6, Willian 6.