Giroud gives Chelsea lift with double
Defeat for Southampton leaves them five points adrift of safety
Olivier Giroud hopes to have kickstarted his Chelsea career after coming off the bench to inspire an eight-minute turnaround from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Southampton yesterday with his first Premier League goals for the club.
The French international striker has largely struggled to make an impact since his deadline day move from Arsenal in January, putting his place at the World Cup in Russia in the summer at risk.
“I’ve been through some difficulties in my career, but I always try to come back stronger and it happened today,” Giroud said.
“The most important thing is to never give up, believe in our quality, play our game and I am proud of what we have done today.”
Defeat is another body blow to Southampton’s chances of avoiding relegation as they remain rooted in the bottom three when for so long they seemed set for a first home win in the Premier League since November.
Dusan Tadic and debutant Jan Bednarek put the hosts in command, but Giroud struck either side of Eden Hazard’s equaliser to cut the gap on Liverpool and Tottenham in the fight for a top-four finish and Uefa Champions League football next season to seven points.
“As long as it is mathematically possible we will believe we can reach the top four,” Giroud said. “We have got five finals to play. After that we will see.”
The two sides meet again in the FA Cup semi-finals next Sunday, and Southampton will do well to raise themselves for cup glory with their
place in the Premier League next season looking ever more precarious.
“As has been the case all year apparently we’ve got a soft underbelly,” said Southampton manager Mark Hughes, whose three Premier League games in charge have now all ended in defeats.
“When the momentum shifts against us we can’t get a platform and wait until the momentum swings our way again.”
Southampton are now five points adrift of safety with five games remaining after other results went against them in the bottom third of the table.
Wilfried Zaha scored twice as Crystal Palace moved up to 15th in the table with a 3-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
James Tomkins was also on the scoresheet for Palace, with Brighton netting through Glenn Murray and Jose Izquierdo.
Zaha said it had been a tense afternoon for Palace in a game where all the goals were scored in the first half.
“We literally had to go back to basics in the second half as it was too open in the first half,” he told the BBC.
“We could score but so could they. For the last couple of weeks it’s felt harsh to lose to last minute goals so it was a case pf holding on tight after the winner.
“We’ve played well for so many weeks and not seemed to get anything from it but if we play like that every week we’ll pick up plenty more points.” Elsewhere, Huddersfield
Town boosted their own hopes of beating the drop as Tom Ince’s stoppage-time strike gave them a 1-0 win over
Watford that leaves them seven points clear of 18th-placed Southampton.
“We need further points. The job isn’t done,” Huddersfield manager David Wagner said.
“But with this performance, the players are very focused and sharp, we have good momentum and that is exactly what we need.”
Swansea City slipped to 17th, but are five points above Southampton after Jordan Ayew’s goal earned them a 1-1 draw with Everton in a game in which they had fallen behind after Kyle Naughton had scored an own goal.
Burnley made it five wins in a row as the seventh-placed side held off a late charge from Leicester City to triumph 2-1 thanks to goals in the opening nine minutes from Chris Wood and Kevin Long.