With every Alvaro Morata performance, it seems Chelsea’s need for a new striker during the January transfer window goes up several notches.
And, on this evidence, Chelsea’s hopes of hanging on to fourth place and Champions League qualification may well rest on whether or not they can find a goalscorer.
Chelsea have scored eight fewer goals than fifth-placed Arsenal, who are three points behind the Blues, and five less than resurgent Manchester United who are now six points back.
There does not appear to be a New Year’s miracle on the horizon in regards to the form of Morata, who was off target again against Southampton, who slipped into the Premier League’s bottom three despite this plucky draw.
The news of Christian Pulisic’s £57.6million signing dominated all the talk in the build-up to this game, but the Chelsea fans, who booed at the final whistle, once again left bemoaning the club’s striking options.
Morata was unfortunate to have a goal ruled out for offside, but the Spaniard spurned a great late chance when the flag stayed down. He has not scored in the League since the start of November and has netted once in 10 appearances in all competitions for club and country.
Chelsea have been working on a range of options to boost their forward line and head coach Maurizio Sarri said: “The club knows very well my opinion. I think we need some different characteristics.”
Sarri, who revealed Giroud should return to training in 10 days after injuring his ankle against Crystal Palace, added: “At the moment, we’re in trouble with the offensive players. For us it’s not easy at this moment to score the first goal. We have to solve this problem. The club knows my position, my opinion. It’s up to the board.”
Other than his need for a new striker, Sarri could do with Pulisic being available immediately, rather than having to wait until the summer for the winger to arrive at Stamford Bridge after being loaned back to Borussia Dortmund.
Already missing Pedro and Callum Hudson-Odoi, Sarri lost another winger as Willian joined the list of Chelsea’s walking wounded towards the end of the first half, although Sarri expects the Brazilian to return quickly.
Cesc Fabregas, who wants to leave Chelsea to join Monaco on a free transfer this month, recovered from a neck problem to take his place among Chelsea’s substitutes and was sent on with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Fabregas almost made the difference, but his 500th English club appearance ended in frustration and the midfielder appeared to wave goodbye to those still inside Stamford Bridge at the final whistle even though he is expected to face Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup at the weekend.
Ralph Hasenhuttl made eight changes from his Southampton side that lost to Manchester City, with goalkeeper Angus Gunn coming in to make his Premier League debut.
Gunn was superb, making a series of important saves to keep a clean sheet after seeing off three dangerous situations in the first 15 minutes.
He was out quickly to intercept a Hazard pass that threatened to send Willian through on goal and then the 22-year-old saved a tame Morata header.
Gunn reacted well again to prevent Hazard reaching a Willian pass, following good work from Ross Barkley, who kept his place with Mateo Kovacic not even on the bench.
Only former Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse and Jan Bednarek kept their Southampton places from the City defeat. It was Ward-Prowse who tried his luck from distance in the 11th minute, but the midfielder’s shot flew harmlessly over the crossbar,
Gunn’s impressive showing continued as he stopped Hazard from opening the scoring for the hosts by stopping the Belgian’s shot with his head, before Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaced Willian.
The change did not stop Chelsea’s domination of possession and Yan Valery had to get in the way of a Morata effort after Kante and Barkley had combined to tee him up.
As Sarri became increasingly frustrated after the break, Hazard produced a moment of quality as he cut in from the left, but Gunn was equal to the Chelsea star’s shot. The youngster also reacted quickly to nick the ball off Hazard’s foot moments later.
Sarri sent of Fabregas, who thought he had made an immediate impact by playing in Morata but the former Real Madrid man was ruled to have been narrowly offside after putting the ball into the net.
There was no flag when Fabregas found Loftus-Cheek and he put Morata through with 12 minutes remaining. But this time he shot straight at Gunn to the surprise of very few inside Stamford Bridge.Angus Gunn made 6️⃣ saves on his @premierleague debut v Chelsea— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) January 2, 2019
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No @SouthamptonFC goalkeeper's made more in a game this season
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Like Sarri, Hasenhuttl feels his squad needs reinforcements as he said: “We have to do something. I have a very good view on our players, what I can expect from them and what I don't see. We need to get some new players in, that’s for sure.”
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