Timo Werner scored his first Premier League goal of the season as Chelsea defeated Southampton 3-1 at Stamford Bridge to head to the top of the English Premier League and put an end to a two-game losing streak.
Coming into the match on the back of back-to-back 1-0 defeats against Manchester City in the league and Juventus in the Champions League, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was looking for a response from his side against a Southampton side that was yet to win a single league match this season.
Chelsea set the tone in the early exchanges of their English Premier League matchday seven encounter with Southampton and were duly rewarded with a goal after only nine minutes as youngster Trevoh Chalobah scored his second goal of the season got the Blues. A corner from Ben Chilwell was flicked on at the near post by Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Chalobah followed through with a diving header at the back post to open the scoring.
Chelsea continued to dominate affairs and thought they had doubled their advantage through striker Romelu Lukaku, but the Belgian was flagged narrowly offside. German striker Werner thought he had doubled the lead for Chelsea as he headed an accurate cross from Callum Hudson-Odoi beyond Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy in the 41st minute, only for the VAR to disallow the goal for a foul in the build-up.
It was the German’s 16th disallowed goal in a Chelsea shirt. Despite their best efforts, Chelsea went into halftime just one goal up.
Southampton came out for the second half a visibly more energised side as they changed their system to match Chelsea. The result was a brilliant move by 18-year-old ex-Chelsea teenage sensation Tino Livramento that saw the youngster get tackled to the ground in the box by Chilwell, resulting in a Southampton penalty. Captain James Ward-Prowse stepped up and sent Edouard Mendy the wrong way in the 61st minute to the delight of the visiting fans.
Chelsea struggled to break down their opponents until the Saints shot themselves in the foot. Influential captain Ward-Prowse flung himself into a tackle against Jorginho and ended up planting his studs into the ankle of the Italian, resulting in a VAR-assisted red card for the Englishman in the 77th minute.
Chelsea took full advantage of their numerical advantage and seven minutes later, they retook the lead in devastating style through the hardworking Werner. After a number of passes were strung around the Southampton penalty area, a raking pass from substitute Ross Barkley released Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta down the right flank, and the Spaniard squared the ball for Werner to tap home from close range.
Chelsea put the icing on the cake five minutes later as Chilwell made amends for the penalty he gave away by smashing a volley over the line despite the best efforts of Southampton keeper McCarthy to prevent the ball going in.
Werner put in a brilliant shift as Chelsea saw out an impressive win at home to Southampton to return to winning ways and return to the summit of the English Premier League after losing top spot in their defeat to Manchester City.
