Chelsea 3-1 Southampton: 5 talking points as Ben Chilwell stars in thrilling victory for Blues | Premier League 2021-22
Chelsea beat ten-man Southampton 3-1 at Stamford Bridge to return to winning ways in the Premier League. Late goals from Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell secured a thrilling victory for the Blues after James Ward-Prowse was sent off for the visitors.
Young gun Trevoh Chalobah opened the scoring in the tenth minute after Ruben Loftus-Cheek flicked a corner from Chilwell. Ward-Prowse equalised through a penalty in the 61st-minute after the former Leicester City man fouled Tino Livramento inside the box.
However, 16 minutes later, the Saints captain was shown a red card after a VAR check for his rash foul on Jorginho.
⚽ Chalobah
⚽ Werner
⚽ Chilwell
Chelsea are back on top of the Premier League 🔵 https://t.co/y484wSp6tm
Chelsea, after some huff and puff, eventually made their numerical superiority count. They scored in the 84th and 89th minutes through Werner and Chilwell to add some gloss to the scoreline. With the win, Chelsea are back to the top of the table after a reverse against Manchester City last weekend.
On that note, here are the five major talking points from the game:
#5 The Chalobah express marches on for Chelsea
Before this game, Trevoh Chalobah quietly impressed for Chelsea, scoring twice in as many appearances this season. Now he has three in three, with the youngster putting the hosts on their way with an early opener.
Chilwell played in a good corner that was flicked on by Loftus-Cheek into the middle. As the ball appeared to head out for a corner, Chalobah lunged at it, heading home from point-blank range to break the deadlock.
Only Romelu Lukaku (3) has more PL goals for Chelsea than defender Trevoh Chalobah this season (2) 🔵 https://t.co/SSlxD8AHZr
He didn't look back after that, coming up big defensively, too, making three clearances and five tackles. Chalobah also played a key role in regaining possession, winning seven of his eight ground duels.
#4 Timo Werner redeems himself after more VAR drama
Timo Werner was already having another frustrating spell in front of goal. A VAR intervention saw his first-half goal ruled out. The German appeared to have doubled Chelsea's advantage midway through the opening stanza with a close-range finish. But officials suspected foul play in the build-up.
After consulting the pitchside monitor, it was found that Cesar Azpilicueta had fouled Kyle Walker-Peters while trying to win the ball back. So Werner's strike was promptly ruled out.
Quite incredibly, it was the 16th time Werner had a goal disallowed by VAR or for offside play. His poor luck in attack looked all set to continue, but he soon redeemed himself, much to his credit.
Timo Werner.
BIG goal. https://t.co/yTvUcMuuzr
Azpilicueta got in behind Walker-Peters, and squared the ball to an onrushing Werner inside the box. The German made no mistake from ten yards, tapping the ball into the bottom corner to open his account for the league season.