Blues held 1-1 by Brighton while Tottenham lose to Southampton as both London clubs drop crucial points in race for English Premier League Top-4 slot on opening day of new year
Brighton and Hove Albionu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s Alireza Jahanbakhsh scores the equaliser against Chelsea during an EPL encounter yesterday. Pic /Getty Images
London: Tottenham and Chelsea slipped up in the Premier League's top-four race on Wednesday but Leicester tightened their grip on second spot during a busy programme of New Year's Day football. Chelsea remain in pole position to secure the fourth Champions League qualification place but Frank Lampard will rue conceding a spectacular late equaliser in the 1-1 draw against Brighton. Those dropped points gave Jose Mourinho's Spurs the chance to crank up the pressure on Chelsea and Manchester United but they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Southampton, while high-flying Wolves went down 2-1 at rejuvenated Watford.
Cesar Azpilicueta gave Chelsea the lead in the early kick-off on England's south coast, tapping in from close range in the 10th minute to put the gloss on their early dominance. The visitors missed chances to increase their lead but were indebted to goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for producing a series of sharp saves at the other end.
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Jahanbakhsh scores
Brighton scored the goal their persistence deserved in the 84th minute when Iranian substitute Alireza Jahanbakhsh acrobatically found the bottom-left corner with an overhead kick to give his team share of the points. Chelsea had won all nine of their previous league meetings with Brighton. "It was frustrating for different reasons," Lampard told BT Sport. "In the first half, the game was there to be won. We weren't ruthless enough. We got the goal and we had the possession. But we just didn't kill the game off. "We allowed them to stay in the game. In the end it was a wonder goal but we were lucky not to lose the game."
The Chelsea boss said he was concerned about the lack of consistency from his side, who have beaten Tottenham and Arsenal in recent weeks but also lost at home to Southampton.
Ings on target
Tottenham travelled to Southampton with the chance to overtake Manchester United and move three points behind Chelsea but they fell behind to a 17th-minute Danny Ings goal. Mourinho was given an extra headache with 15 minutes to go, when Harry Kane limped off, clutching his left hamstring. Leicester appear to have put a mini-slump behind them, beating Newcastle 3-0 courtesy of goals from Ayoze Perez, James Maddison and Hamza Choudhury after their win at West Ham on Saturday.
Brendan Rodgers shuffled his pack once again as he made six changes for trip to the northeast. Watford continued their impressive run under new manager Nigel Pearson, holding on to beat seventh-placed Wolves 2-1 courtesy of first-half goals from Gerard Deulofeu and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Chelsea record £96.6 million loss
London: Chelsea recorded a loss of nearly £100 million ($132 million, 118 million euros) for the year ending June 30, according to financial results published by the Premier League club on Tuesday. Turnover grew slightly to £446.7m, with Chelsea citing a lack of Champions League football, a record spend on players Kepa Arrizabalaga, Christian Pulisic, among others for the £96.6m loss.
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