Forget about splashing out on more wingers, the blunt Blues are in desperate need of a goal-scoring striker.
They don't need a No10 or a false nine, or whatever is vogue these days. Chelsea need goals and they need them quickly.
Solitary strikes squeezed them past Palace, Watford, Brighton and Wolves, but those results simply papered over the cracks.
The glaring missing ingredient from this side is a goal scorer. Morata, with no goal in the Premier League since the start of November, is simply not good enough.
All the pre match talk around Stamford Bridge was about the £58million signing of American winger Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund only to loan him back to the German club until the end of the season.
But if Sarri is serious about challenging for the title then he MUST buy a striker in the January transfer window.
There is no doubt that Pulisic, 20, is an exciting prospect and he has scored nine goals in 23 games for his country.
However, he's not an out-and-out goalscorer, which is what Chelsea need and haven't had since Didier Drogba left in 2012, before his second-coming at Stamford Bridge.
Sure, they are planning for the future in Pulisic.
With Callum Hudson-Odoi, Eden Hazard, Pedro and Willian all out of contract in 18 months, they need to have some wingers in the squad.
But once again, it was Hazard who again proved to be the Blues most attacking threat.
His clever pass almost played in Willian inside the opening five minutes but Southampton keeper Gunn was quick off his line to clear the danger.
Gunn, the son of former Norwich keeper, Brian, was one of EIGHT changes for the Saints as manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is becoming quite a tinkerman.
Hasenhuttl had clearly seen enough from regular keeper Alex McCarthy in their 3-1 defeat to Manchester City and handed Gunn his Premier League debut.
And the keeper was again alert in the 12th minute when he saved neatly from Morata's goal-bound header, however, the Chelsea striker's header was soft.
Sarri's side huffed and puffed but in fairness never troubled Southampton in the opening 30 minutes.
And Hasenhuttl's side started to grown in confidence as Danny Ings had a chance while Nathan Redmond was caught just offside.
There was even a moment with giant Saints defender Jannik Vestergaard ventured towards the half-way line only to suffer the inevitable nosebleed and get caught in possession.
Chelsea broke quickly and even though Morata was scythed down by Jan Bednarek, who was booked by referee Jon Moss, they were unable to make the move count.
Hazard came even closer to breaking the deadlock but was again denied by Gunn, who saved with his face.
Hazard raced on to an over the top pass by Antonio Rudiger yet his effort struck Gunn square in the chops.
If there were any further evidence needed to highlight Chelsea's distinct lack of fire power, then it came on 37 minutes with Willian limped off with an injury.
There was no striker or winger on the bench to replace him, the most attacking player of Sarri's subs was midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
And so Chelsea continued to fire blanks. First Morata had a shot blocked by Yan Valery. Marcos Alonso's long-rang effort was then deflected wide.
And then Morata failed to react to an excellent ball into the box as he stood and watch Valery hack the ball to safety.
Southampton looked solid, well organised and grateful that Chelsea were toothless in attack.
Sarri had seen enough and sent his side out early for the second half, but it was the visitors who had the first chance of the second period when Stuart Armstrong tested Kepa Arrizabalaga from distance.
Chelsea had chances too as Hazard was again denied by Gunn, who palmed away the Belgian's shot.
Hazard then gave Southampton another scare when he run in behind the back three but was unable to release a shot under pressure from Gunn.
And at the other end Shane Long fired over while former Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu had a shot from the edge of the box that tested Arrizabalaga.
Chelsea thought they had taken the lead in the 70th minute when Morata put the ball in the next only to see his effort chalked off for offside.
And then the Spaniard squandered the chance of the night. Clear though and bearing down on Gunn's goal, he shot straight at the keeper.
Loftus-Cheek then danced his way through Southampton's defence, but credit to Hasenhuttl's side, who dug in and defended well.
They even had the audacity to try and win it at the death as Charlie Austin came on to join Long in attack, as Saints showed off their range of attacking players almost as if to rub Sarri's nose in it.
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