Chelsea 3-1 Southampton: Big reaction and massive result for Chelsea

John Terry and Gary Cahill celebrate a goal

After the midweek defeat and performance at Basel, Chelsea needed a big performance and result against Southampton. After a nightmare start, Chelsea well and truly delivered.

There was so much to be pleased about in this one. Our tempo was great, we attacked Southampton and forced them onto the back foot numerous times and more than anything else, we created chances again.

Jose Mourinho deserves a lot of credit for making bold substitutions and tactical chances to influence the game from the bench and his decisions paid off in the second half.

A tactical change to 4-4-2 and introducing Demba Ba up top with the hard working Fernando Torres, with Eden Hazard and Juan Mata on either side worked a treat and Southampton struggled to cope. With that one change, they could no longer play the ball out of defence. Chelsea were dominant despite one or two half chances for our visitors.

Back to the beginning of the game and it’s just one of those things that happen in football. If anything, I thought Petr Cech was pretty much rooted to his 6 yard box and could have done more to come out and close the ball down. However, like I said, it just one of those things.

I loved the reaction to the goal. You just felt from the off that we were up and at it in the stands and on the pitch. When we play like we did, we can destroy teams. Although Southampton are a good side and will continue to do well this season, they simply couldn’t live with us.

I was pleased for Gary Cahill and John Terry to get a goal each and especially with it being Terry’s 400 league appearance.

Demba Ba came on and did well. He gave their defence something different to think about and took his goal really, really well.

Every single player played their part and contributed to a massive win. With United and Tottenham dropping points and Liverpool losing, we had to win this one after Arsenal‘s result on Saturday. OK, City are thumping teams at home at the moment and we have to keep an eye on them.

We must kick on now from this performance into two big, big games this week against Sunderland and Stoke. If we can pick up six points here, it could be massive as we build up to the busy Christmas period and Arsenal coming up.

The performance yesterday will mean nothing if we cannot continue this week. I will say this though, Chelsea have set themselves the example of what is required.

For now, it was a massive win and fantastic second half performance.