Chelsea 1 Southampton 0

By Phil Casey, PA Sport

Mark Hughes' emotional return to Stamford Bridge ended on a stretcher as Gianfranco Zola made sure Chelsea kept up the pace at the top of the Premiership table.

The afternoon began with Hughes receiving a standing ovation from both sets of fans as he was presented with a crystal bowl before kick-off in recognition of his three years' service in south-west London.

Unfortunately the Saints were feeling equally generous and presented Zola with not one but two opportunities to score the winner from a free-kick after just 11 minutes.

And the visitors' miserable afternoon was completed seconds before the end as Hughes was carried off, looking in considerable pain, after a collision with Marcel Desailly 10 yards inside his own half.

Saints boss Dave Jones will be desperately hoping the damage proves not to be serious as he cannot afford another injury to his side after this defeat left them still in dire relegation trouble.

The visitors could also ill afford to make life easy for the home side - but they did exactly that.

Zola, the best player in an unchanged Chelsea line-up, saw one free-kick go straight into the wall but within seconds he was presented with a second bite of the cherry in an almost identical position after a foul by Saints new boy Chris Marsden, making his debut following an 800,000 move from Birmingham.

This time there was no mercy, the Italian curling a right-foot shot past Paul Jones into the far corner to put the home side in the driving seat.

The Blues had started brightly as they aimed to close the gap on Manchester United at the top of the Premiership.

Mikael Forssell, Wednesday's teenage two-goal hero, showed he had gained in confidence from midweek, the 17-year-old trying his luck from 25 yards on his full debut but failing to find the target.

Captain Dennis Wise then saw his left-foot volley saved by Jones before Zola's free-kick opened the scoring.

With Southampton conceding seven on their last away trip a few more goals looked likely.

But a swirling wind and bumpy Stamford Bridge surface made life difficult for both sides, who struggled to string more than a couple of passes together.

What good football there was tended to come from the home side, Jody Morris' attempted chip floating over the bar while Dan Petrescu was just inches away from connecting at the far post with Zola's dangerous inswinging cross just before the interval.

The half-time cup of tea did little to improve the quality of football on display as neither team managed to wrestle control of an overcrowded midfield.

A typical Hughes volley flashed over the crossbar and Frank Leboeuf did the same at the other end after latching on to Zola's free-kick at the far post.

Both managers made their first substitutions just after the hour, Mark Nicholls replacing Forssell - who found life in the Premiership a bit more difficult than against First Division opposition - and Wayne Bridge replacing Scott Hiley.

The changes appeared to work in the visitors' favour and they went close to an equaliser on 63 minutes.

Egil Ostenstad muscled his way past a casual Desailly on the touchline and advanced into the area. He got around Leboeuf and made space for the shot but his effort was too close to Ed De Goey, who palmed it away.

The Chelsea fans were beginning to grow anxious as a one-goal cushion suddenly looked insufficient, Bridge's cross allowed to travel the full width of the area but no Southampton player could get the killer touch.

That sparked some retaliation from the side and Wise should have calmed the nerves on 65 minutes, Celestine Babayaro's pass setting Zola clear to pull the ball back across the goal but the Chelsea skipper misshit his shot and it bobbled wide.

That proved to be the last clear chance, Ostenstad was flagged offside when through on goal but saw his effort smothered anyway and Chelsea clung on for an unconvincing win.

The last action was the unfortunate enforced substitution of Hughes and Southampton headed back south knowing another long struggle lay ahead.

Teams:

Chelsea: De Goey, Petrescu, Desailly, Leboeuf, Le Saux, Wise, Morris, Di Matteo, Babayaro (Goldbaek 77), Zola, Forssell (Nicholls 61).

Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Newton, Terry.

Booked: Di Matteo.

Goals: Zola 11.

Southampton: Jones, Hiley (Bridge 61), Dodd, Lundekvam, Colleter, Oakley, Marsden, Kachloul, Hughes (Bradley 89), Beattie, Ostenstad.

Subs Not Used: Howells, Monk, Stensgaard.

Booked: Oakley, Marsden.

Att: 34,920

Ref: R Harris (Oxford).