Chelsea 0 Southampton 0
Chelsea's attempt to temporarily replace Arsenal at the top of the Premiership was frustrated by a determined Southampton side who held the Blues to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge today.
It was Chelsea's sixth consecutive home clean sheet, but despite good chances falling to Gianfranco Zola, substitute William Gallas and Marcel Desailly in the closing stages, the Saints deserved a share of the spoils after matching their opponents all afternoon.
Both sides had gone into this match on the back of unbeaten runs, Chelsea's now stretches to 11 while Southampton's is six, so perhaps a draw was inevitable. It was certainly a fair result after a closely-fought encounter which neither team ever really did enough to win.
Southampton made the brighter start, but it was the inspirational Zola who missed a golden opportunity to give Chelsea the lead in the 12th minute when he somehow fired against the outside of the post from just six yards after being found unmarked by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's low cross.
Southampton's best chance also came in the first half when James Beattie was found by Jo Tessem's header from Bridge's 36th-minute free-kick, but the visitors' leading scorer could only volley over the crossbar after turning well.
Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri had made six changes to his team for the match as he opted to rest several players including Frank Lampard and William Gallas with trips to Leeds and Arsenal coming up in the next week.
In the 35th minute, Zola, Hasselbaink and Zenden combined well on the edge of the box and it was the Italian who was presented with a decent chance from Zenden's clever flick, but he scuffed his shot straight at Niemi.
The Saints then had two excellent chances to take the lead. First, centre-back Michael Svensson met Fabrice Fernandes' flicked-on free-kick, but his drilled effort was well saved by Ed de Goey, who was making his first appearance of the season as a result of Carlo Cudicini's calf injury.
The second half took its time to get going and Ranieri was becoming increasingly frustrated in the dug-out as his side continued to be denied.
Chelsea were able to find Zenden and de Lucas in wide positions regularly, but their centres lacked the quality to test Michael Svensson and Lundekvam at the heart of the visitors' defence.
But it was Southampton who nearly took the lead in the 75th-minute when centre-back Svensson toe-poked a shot which deflected off Beattie, but de Goey did well to save with his legs.
Hasselbaink spurned the next chance as he raced free thanks to Zola's accurate pass, but delayed his shot too long and could only fire the ball across the face of the goal.
With six minutes left, Lampard replaced Zenden and Gallas came on for Melchiot for Chelsea and Gallas almost snatched the three points in the 89th minute, but his close-range shot was superbly turned away by Niemi.
And in a frantic finale, Petit's corner was not cleared and in the ensuing goalmouth scramble, John Terry saw his shot cannon back off Gallas before Desailly, returning from injury, hooked the ball over the crossbar from just three yards out.
It was that kind of afternoon for Chelsea.