Chelsea went into their match with Southampton in 2013 with just one domestic home win in five fixtures under the guidance of interim manager Rafael Benitez.
The Blues had been impressive on the road, picking up six victories from seven games, but former Liverpool boss Benitez was struggling to win over the home faithful at Stamford Bridge.
As for Southampton, they were beginning to perform under Nigel Adkins in their first campaign back in the Premier League, and they made the journey to West London on a four-match unbeaten run, which included a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
Benitez gave starting roles to Gary Cahill and Demba Ba ahead of Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres, while Adkins opted to leave top scorer Rickie Lambert on the substitutes' bench.
Chelsea created the first opportunity of the night through Oscar, but he dragged his effort to the right of the post, before Jason Puncheon headed wide from 10 yards for the Saints.
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However, Chelsea made the breakthrough shortly after the midway point of the half. Cesar Azpilicueta's cross was deflected into the air by Jos Hooiveld, and Ba reacted fastest to send a right-footed effort into the far corner of the net.
Southampton almost found a reply 11 minutes later through Steven Davis, who placed the ball marginally wide of the far post after Maya Yoshida and Jay Rodriguez had combined to create the opportunity.
Chelsea doubled their advantage in the final minute of the half when, after seeing Ramires strike the woodwork with a deflected attempt, Eden Hazard volleyed the ball into the corner from the edge of the penalty area.
The visitors replaced Rodriguez with Lambert 10 minutes into the second half, and his introduction had an immediate effect after he rose highest to meet a Nathaniel Clyne cross to head past Petr Cech for his 10th goal of the season.
All of a sudden, Southampton were in the ascendancy, but Chelsea nearly regained their two-goal lead when Juan Mata and Ba combined before the Senegalese striker drilled a shot over the crossbar.
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Frank Lampard also saw a shot goes agonisingly wide of the post, but Stamford Bridge was stunned with 15 minutes remaining when a Luke Shaw delivery found Puncheon, who fired his shot past Cech to bring his side level.
The equaliser saw Benitez throw on Torres in search of a late winner, and the Spaniard saw two efforts in the space of three minutes fail to hit the target.
That turned out to be Chelsea's final sustained assault on Artur Boruc's goal and Southampton held on for an impressive point, which was just the third time in 90 matches that Chelsea had failed to hold on to a two-goal lead in the Premier League.
The pressure eased on Benitez four days later after he guided Chelsea to a 2-1 triumph over Arsenal, but while he was always destined to leave the Blues at the end of the campaign, he secured a Champions League berth for the Stamford Bridge outfit, while also winning the Europa League.
Southampton remarkably parted company with Adkins less than 48 hours after their draw with Chelsea, replacing him with Mauricio Pochettino, and the Saints ended the season in a respectable 14th position.
Darren Plant
