Rafa rattled by Saints

Southhampton 2 Chelsea 1

The Spaniard admitted before the trip to St Mary’s Stadium that with while both he and Alex Ferguson had to cope with the demands of two high pressure games in 48 hours, the United manager held the advantage because of his side’s dominance at the head of the Premier League table.

That, according to Benitez, meant Ferguson could shuffle his pack more liberally. Saturday’s events also confirmed, by the Chelsea interim manager’s own admission, that he doesn’t possess the depth of quality in his squad to match that of his increasingly distant rival.