Chelsea Edge Further Ahead in Title Race but Issues Persist in Southampton Draw
STAMFORD BRIDGE, LONDON — When Chelsea sit six points clear with a game in hand at the Premier League's summit, it's difficult to suggest Jose Mourinho's team is in the midst of a mid-season slump.
They haven't lost in the league since New Year's Day, and as Manchester City continue to throw away their opportunities to crank up the pressure, Chelsea gradually edge away from them in the title race.
We're often told the league table doesn't lie, only in this instance it does.
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It contradicts itself.
Chelsea have that considerable lead and could well be crowned champions come the end of April if results go their way.
Judging by their recent displays, you wouldn't know it.
The energy has gone from their performances, Chelsea are riding their luck more often than championship-winning teams should and they're beginning to look incredibly vulnerable.
With more presence up front, we could be talking about a Saints win here. Ronald Koeman's side looked well worthy of a team competing for European qualification and dominated Chelsea for spells.
When they did, the Blues struggled to contain them, and they were rightly happy to come away with another 1-1 draw.
Just four days previous, Paris Saint-Germain had done the same to Chelsea, but with far more significant consequences as Mourinho's men crashed out of the Champions League.
That night reaffirmed Chelsea's worrying habit of allowing teams back into matches once they have taken the lead.
Right now, they can't close games out.
It happened again when they faced Southampton, Diego Costa putting them ahead on 11 minutes before Dusan Tadic converted from the spot to bring his team level just eight minutes later
Since the turn of the year, Chelsea have scored first in all 16 of their games. In nine of them, they have been pegged back, going on to drop nine points in the league, also getting knocked out of the FA Cup and Europe as a result of their failure to defend leads.
That's a worrying statistic for any side, particularly one with aspirations of winning silverware.
It's not the mark of a Mourinho team; it's not the mark of Premier League champions.
We're not seeing enough from Chelsea right now, and this draw summed up how 2015 has gone for them.
It was frustrating, and the tension on the terraces grew as the clock ticked down and Chelsea failed to close the game out.
They came close on a number of occasions as Oscar, Eden Hazard and Cesar Azpilicueta all forced Fraser Forster into good saves, but the end product was lacking.
Indeed, Mourinho mentioned after that PSG away-goals defeat that he was concerned some of his players couldn't cope with the pressure of expectation that was thrust upon them.
The theory was that, when down to 10 men, PSG were expected to crumble and the Chelsea crowd wanted the team to kill them off once and for all.
"I think we couldn't cope with that pressure," Mourinho said at the time.
The dust has settled since the Champions League exit, although those same concerns are prevalent.
After Manchester City's surprise defeat to Burnley just 24 hours before, Chelsea arrived at Stamford Bridge with that same level of expectation.
Given the week they've experienced, Southampton were supposed to be on the receiving end of a backlash. Chelsea were going to lay down the marker that would kill the title race as a contest.
They did the opposite.
If anything, Manuel Pellegrini and his players will be feeling buoyed by Chelsea's draw. They have much to do to rescue their season, yet Chelsea are keeping the door ajar; they're dangling the carrot.
Sure, league titles are won by picking up points when teams are not at their best, which Chelsea did against Southampton here.
Equally, there comes a time when those same qualities are reflected in a team's ability to be ruthless when it counts, to take their chances and prevent the opposition from getting back at them.
Chelsea were faultless at that in the first half of the campaign. They need to rediscover that art of winning. Otherwise, this title race will needlessly go to the wire.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.
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