Ronald Koeman praises referee performance after Southampton draw at Chelsea

Southampton manager Ronaldo Koeman has claimed referee Mike Dead gave a fantastic performance during the Saints 1-1 draw at Chelsea, even though José Mourinho's side questioned some of his decisions.

Diego Costa opened the scoring for Chelsea earlier in the game but Koeman's side reacted quickly after given a penalty when Nemanja Matić brought down Victor Wanyama in the box.

Chelsea questioned that decision while believe Costa deserved a penalty in the second half in a similar incident with Jose Fonte.

But Koeman believes the referee was eventually right.

When asked whether they were afraid about facing the leaders, he said: "Why we have to be afraid? It's football, enjoy.

"It's 11 against 11 with a good referee today and show your qualities. That's not a lot of pressure. We know that we can play good football, we have a good defence and organisation, we don't receive a lot of goals and we have good quality players to score goals."

And questioned about Matic's penalty, he insisted: "It was a penalty and the referee made a good decision in the moment."

The Dutch boss also praised his side reaction to Costa's early goal to secure a point in a very difficult stadium.

"It's very positive, a great result in a difficult match. The second half was different to the first.

"We had a fantastic reaction after the fast 1-0 that Chelsea scored. I think we were the dominant team in the first half. After the 1-1 the best chances to score the second goal were for us.

"In the second half it was more difficult. We had more difficulties in our ball possession and were not as dominant as the first half.

"You know against Chelsea you need good defending, a good goalkeeper and a little bit of luck and we had all three in the second half,"

"The lads showed a great spirit, a great belief in a good result and then you need that luck. I'm very proud of the team and how we played to keep a strong Chelsea team from us."