Ranking Chelsea's 5 best players in 3-1 win against Southampton | Premier League 2021-22
Chelsea bounced back from their back-to-back defeats with a 3-1 win over Southampton. Trevoh Chalobah scored early in the game but the Blues needed late goals from Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell to seal the deal.
Thomas Tuchel made five changes to his team. Trevoh Chalobah, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Ben Chilwell all came into the starting XI. The changes worked well as Chelsea controlled the game from the start.
Speaking about the changes, Thomas Tuchel said:
"Yes because otherwise I wouldn't have done it. Ross had a very good situation in Juventus when he delivered the pass to Romelu (Lukaku) for our biggest chance of the game and Ruben had a good match in the cup. Most important is that I feel Ruben and Ross at the moment feel no pressure.
"They are happy to have these chances, to feel the support, and perhaps six weeks ago they couldn't have imagined they were in the situation to get real minutes, important minutes. So they can help us because they have this kind of positive spirit and they didn't feel the pressure. In the last two games, of course, we lost and we felt something was lacking."
Apart from a James Ward-Prowse penalty, Chelsea did not give Southampton any clear-cut chance. The sending-off of the Saints star threw the game wide open and saw the home side grab all three points.
Here are Chelsea's top five players from the 3-1 win over Southampton:
#5 - Cesar Azpilicueta
Cesar Azpilicueta has been in exceptional form this season and he continued in the same vein today. He was credited with two assists today and both came in the final minutes of the game to help Chelsea win.
The Spaniard started as a right wing-back and ensured Chelsea did not miss the services of Reece James. Azpilicueta kept Nathan Tella on his toes every time he got the ball and ensured he did not link with Nathan Redmond.
Cesar Azpilicueta first slotted the ball into the six-yard box for Timo Werner to tap-in in the 84th minute and then had a shot come off the bar in the 89th.
However, the deflected shot resulted in an assist as Ben Chilwell scored on the opposite side of the post.
#4 - Trevoh Chalobah
Trevoh Chalobah was Chelsea's best defender today even if we didn't consider his goal. The youngster has done extremely well whenever he has been called up to the first team this season.
The Chelsea academy product made five exceptional tackles, had a 91% pass success, made three clearances and also dribbled past Southampton's press twice.
Thomas Tuchel has a tough decision to make now as Andreas Christensen is also doing well in the centre-back role.