Southampton 1-1 Chelsea

The tension is mounting in this absorbing title race and anyone who witnessed the Chelsea manager’s unnecessary assassination of the match official’s performance recognised some familiar signs.

Attack mode: High. Stress level: Off the scale. Mood: Dangerous. Vision: Blinkered. Target: Anthony Taylor. Outcome: Direct hit.

'There is a campaign - not against me, but against Chelsea,’ he whined, after Cesc Fabregas was felled by Southampton’s rookie left back Matt Targett inside the penalty area with the score at 1-1.

The brutal truth is Mourinho flipped his lid here, losing control of his emotions at a time when he was unaware Burnley had equalised at Manchester City. If only he had known.

To think it had all been going so sweetly, Chelsea serenely closing in on their fourth Barclays Premier League title when they moved nine points ahead of City in November.

Mourinho barely mentioned a word of the game, other than to hiss repeatedly when he was quizzed about Taylor’s failure to award Chelsea a 55th-minute penalty. Fabregas was booked for simulation. It was, indeed, a ridiculous decision because Targett took the attacker’s legs from under him and appeared to be blocking his path with an arm at the same time.

It should have been a penalty, but then Ronald Koeman could legitimately argue that Chelsea still had another 35 minutes to eke out a winner.

In the end, given Ashley Barnes’ equaliser at the Etihad, they got away with it. 

This was classic Mourinho, setting up a bigger diversion than the cones being laid out on that irksome M3 last night, in a resilient attempt to avoid a heavy-duty inquest into his side’s performance.

He can be thankful that City are still three points behind them after they were pegged back by Burnley. Still, this was a big slip.

Southampton were excellent, barely showing signs of any fatigue after their purposeful 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace on Boxing Day.

Here they scored early on, taking the lead when Dusan Tadic’s delightful lob sent Sadio Mane in the clear. The Southampton forward got his chance because Chelsea’s defensive line was so high and John Terry made a rare error by appealing for offside.

After the outstanding season he has had, the Chelsea captain is entitled to make one mistake. Yet, it was a significant one.

Mane went on to beat the on-rushing figure of Thibaut Courtois and send this place into raptures.

(dailymail.co.uk)