Saints took a big step towards safety with an unexpected but deserved victory against a Chelsea side clearly with one eye on their Monday fixture.
Prior to the Liverpool game I had a sneaking feeling that we would win that game, I have to admit I had no such confidence going into this one, I hoped that Benitez would pick a weakened side, but my feeling was that a draw would be the best we could hope for, luckily that was proved wrong as with Wigan winning defeat would have seen us only one point away from the botton three, but we now keep our heads well above water and with the added bonus of dragging a few teams below us who perhaps thought that they were not going to feel the drag of relegation around their feet.
Saints were weakened by injury with Adam Lallana failing a fitness test, but Mauricio Pochettino didnt opt to keep Ramirez in the side but went for a more workmanlike line up with Steven Davis in the side, this paid dividends for the opening goal, rightly most of the plaudits went to Jay Rodriguez for the way he fashioned the move and finished it, but Davis should be recognised for his part, his simple ball in the one two move had to be accurate and well weighted and it was.
Sadly though the defensive lapses were still there, we dont cover our left side enough and our marking at set pieces is at times woeful as it was for Chelsea's equaliser, Jos Hooiveld lost his man and fell over in his confusion leaving John Terry with a simple unmarked header.
But if home fans though that this would be the start of a Chelsea comeback, as it was in similar circumstances in the FA Cup, they were to be pleasantly surprised as two minutes later Rickie Lambert scored a free kick that was a trademark of his first two years at St Mary's but havent happened enough since, a great block buster 35 yard freekick into the net.
At the break there was another shock as Artur Boruc didnt re emerge and was replaced by Kelvin Davis, Kelvin didnt do too much wrong, his kicking was a bit suspect, but the only real save of note he had to make he made well.
This was perhaps Chelsea's downfall, their lack of chances, whilst they enjoyed a lot of possession at times going forward and played some lovely passing football, in the final third they seemed to prefer snazzy tricks rather than being direct and testing our defence and Davis in goal, they lacked a cutting edge in that final third, but in fairness to Saints they stuck with it when they didnt have the ball, they kept running and harrying and made sure Chelsea didnt get too much chance to do something with that possession.
Another great performance from Saints who slowly but surely are getting the basis of a good side together, but we shouldnt allow the winning of three points to brush over the fact that the same problems still prevail in the centre of our defence, once again a sloppy goal could have cost us dear, but luckily didnt, with just a bit of tightening up at the back we could really be anywhere between 5 -10 points better off than we are at the moment, hopefully this will be addressed in the summer, but lets make no bones about it, we have got lucky at times this season and we might not be so lucky next, we still need to improve.
But to finish on a happier note, the league table makes good reading this morning, but 12th position is still precarious, lose at Reading and its possible that five clubs could overtake us (assuming if Villa win this afternoon) and plunge us right back into the mire, we have done some good work in recent weeks to keep our heads above water, we now need to finish the job by getting a win that will virtually see us safe and then another one that will assure it.
Jay Rodriguez was once again a vital cog in our system and is getting better in every game, ideally Rodriguez would be used as our front man and if he was put there in place of Lambert then Im sure he would be even better, but for now Rickie is not giving up his place as the main striker easily and he is raising his game as well and we are reaping the benefits.