Chelsea vs Southampton. Premier League.
Stamford Bridge.
Timo Werner scores twice and assists Kai Havertz, both scoring their first Premier League goals; but Danny Ings, Che Adams via another Kepa error and last-gasp Jannick Vestergaard header gives Saints dramatic point
Saturday 17 October 2020 21:34, UK
Timo Werner scored twice and assisted another for Chelsea but Jannik Vestergaard's last-gasp equaliser earned Southampton a 3-3 draw in another Premier League thriller at Stamford Bridge.
With Chelsea leading 3-2 in stoppage time, Vestergaard flicked home Theo Walcott's half volley for only his second Saints goal following a chaotic clash in which the visitors had also come from 2-0 down to level.
It all started swimmingly for Chelsea as Werner finally opened his Premier League account with a brilliant opener, selling Jan Bednarek a dummy before slotting bottom corner (15), and the German soon got his second, again beating Bednarek to the ball and lifting over Alex McCarthy before nodding home (28).
Saints halved the deficit from nowhere as Danny Ings rounded Kepa Arrizabalaga before finishing (43), and got their leveller in chaotic circumstances as another Kepa error from Kurt Zouma's short backpass allowed Che Adams to score following a melee in the box (57).
But Chelsea immediately regained their lead as Werner squared for Kai Havertz for his first Premier League goal (59), and looked to have survived late chances for Adams and Ings, before Vestergaard popped up with the equaliser.
At a time where Premier League football is resembling basketball, drama and chaos was in no shortage at Stamford Bridge, punctuated by some superb attacking play.
Saints played a risky game in the first half, pressing Chelsea's full-backs from the off, and the Blues dominated the early stages as Ben Chilwell's low effort forced a good save from McCarthy, who then got up to deny Havertz at the rebound.
Adams forced Kepa into a low block with his feat at the other end, but Werner, who failed to score in his first four Premier League games, then put Chelsea ahead.
Receiving the ball from Chilwell from deep, the German superbly dummied Bednarek, paced into the box and danced past two challenges before driving bottom corner through the crowd from 14 yards.
And Werner got his second, again causing Bednarek nightmares, getting goal-side of the Saints defender from Jorginho's long ball, before lifting over McCarthy and collecting the other side to head into an empty net. There was a call for a handball from Werner in the build-up, but VAR did not intervene.
Nevertheless, Werner was at last beginning to live up to the hype following his £50m summer move from RB Leipzig, but for all the money spent on attacking players, Chelsea's defensive concerns came to the fore again as Saints scored from nowhere.
It was in fact £75m signing Havertz who lost the ball deep in his own half, and as Chelsea's back line sat high, Adams was able to play Ings through on goal, rounding Kepa before sliding into the empty net.
Saints kept Chelsea waiting at the start of the second half, taking an age to emerge from the newly-located away dressing room at Stamford Bridge - boss Ralph Hasenhuttl says they are "so far away" - but it was the hosts caught cold with a bizarre equaliser.
Zouma sold Kepa short with a back pass, but the goalkeeper, replacing injured new signing Edouard Mendy, added to a long list of errors as he completely missed the ball ahead of Ings, before chaos on the line as Ings and Adams desperately tried to turn the ball home. Adams eventually took over, despite Andreas Christensen's best efforts, and slammed into the roof of the net.
Just 121 seconds later, Werner was again found in space, this time on the right of the box, and his square ball for compatriot Havertz was simply swept past McCarthy from eight yards.
The game calmed down for all of five minutes before more drama and chances; Havertz headed a fine chance over, Adams drilled just wide at the other end and Ings' snapshot forced a low save from Kepa, and the game took one more twist in stoppage time.
As Walcott slammed a half volley into the ground from just inside the box, Vestergaard stooped low to flick a header into the far corner from 10 yards.
Chelsea have conceded an average of 1.5 goals per game in the Premier League under Frank Lampard (63 in 43 games), the Blues' worst rate under any boss to oversee more than one game in the competition.
Chelsea will be kicking themselves after dominating before Ings' goal in the first half, but nothing can be assumed or ruled out in this most bizarre of Premier League seasons.
Since Lampard arrived, only Saints, Aston Villa, West Ham and Brighton have conceded more goals of current Premier League teams. But the goals against column does not tally with other metrics.
They have conceded just 379 shots - only Manchester City have faced fewer - and their expected goals against is just 44.7, over 18 goals fewer than they have actually conceded. That is by far the largest difference between expected goals conceded and actual goals conceded in the Premier League.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard: "Frustrated, and so are the players. The first half is as good as we've played this season, scored two and could have had more.
"It's disappointing, you want to pick up points at home against teams like Southampton, but you respect they are a very good team and can do things to you.
"If you're going to concede those types of goals, it's not matter of how well we play, we want to get those out of our game."
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl: "I think it was a fantastic game to watch. It's good to get a point here, it isn't easy, but I think it was deserved.
"The first half was a disaster, especially the first 20 minutes. In the second half I think we were the better team and played some good football."
On the away dressing room: "The changing rooms are so far away we lost nearly three minutes getting there. I wanted to coach and it's a long way, too long. We went down some stairs and up some stairs. We used the time very well."
Chelsea now host Sevilla in their opening Champions League group game on Tuesday at 8pm, before going to Manchester United on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Premier League at 5.30pm.
Southampton host Everton on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League at 2pm.
