Southampton heaped more pressure on Rafa Benitez, after the Saints fought back from two goals down to hold Chelsea 2-2 in an entertaining English Premier League game.
Demba Ba, preferred to Fernando Torres up front, opened the scoring for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, before Eden Hazard made it 2-0 on the stroke of halftime.
However, wonderfully taken second half goals from Rickie Lambert and Jason Puncheon consigned the Blues to another disappointing result at home.
The draw kept Chelsea in third, but they lost the chance to move to within four points of Manchester City, instead lying six points adrift of the Premier League champions with 42 points. Chelsea are a further 13 points behind league leaders Manchester United.
"We have to be more clinical," Benitez told Sky Sports. "At 2-0 up you have to manage the game. We have to have some experience, score the third goal and kill the game but we didn't do that.
"We had chances, we had a lot of chances again. Taking our chances has to be the key. We are in the top three so we will try to be as high as possible and try to get three points in the next game -- that's it.
"I said we would have to be more clinical and today (Wednesday) was the same. We had situations where we could score. We didn't and they broke on a counter-attack. We gave them hope they could score and they did it.
"I was talking to the team at half-time, trying to say 'we have to score a third goal.'
"I think for us we cannot be happy drawing at home. I am disappointed. When you know your players and what they can do it is disappointing. We have to think how we can improve for the next one."
Chelsea dominated the game in the first half, with them being duly rewarded in the 25th minute. Frank Lampard spread the ball across to Cesar Azplicueta on the right, with the full-back's cross eventually falling for Demba Ba to sweep home.
Twenty minutes later, Hazard doubled the lead, latching onto a rebound, from a Ramires shot which had struck the post, before slamming the ball home.
If Chelsea fans thought it would be yet another comfortable outing against the Saints, similar to the 5-1 win in the FA Cup a couple of weeks back, they were in for a rude shock.
First, Lambert planted a brilliant header into the top corner off a cross from Nathaniel Clyne just before the hour. Then, Puncheon equalized in the 75th minute, much to the dismay of the home crowd.
Luke Shaw made a slaloming run down the left, before finding Puncheon on the edge of the box, the winger took a first touch before drilling the ball into the back of the net, leaving Peter Cech with no chance of making a save.
Chelsea tried to get a goal in the final moments, but the Saints hung on to earn themselves what might prove to be a vital point in terms of survival.
"We came here with a gameplan," Southampton manager Nigel Adkins said. "Obviously Chelsea are a good side and if you give them space they're going to hurt you.
"So we came here to put a block in and to try to intercept and then go on and counter-attack. The two goals we conceded -- we could have cleared them a little bit better in the penalty area and the one just before half time could have been a big sucker punch.
"But it was great character from the players -- to come out in the second half and stick to that gameplan -- and great impact (from the substitutes) coming off the bench and to go and claw two goals back."
