Chelsea’s win over Manchester United last weekend set the standard for beautiful, entertaining, full-pitch football. Against Southampton yesterday, the Blues played the complete opposite brand but still walked away with another win and another clean sheet.
Chelsea played a rough-and-tumble, at times stodgy, 90 minutes of football at Southampton. The game tangled in midfield, where the referee’s whistle broke up the few plays that N’Golo Kante did not. Aside from two moments of brilliance by Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, the game was a physical, but slightly boring, Premier League affair.
Chelsea will need to win more fixtures like this en route to the Premier League title. For every exhibition of beautiful football against a Champions League contender will be several workaday wins over Southampton, West Brom and Stoke.
The win over Southampton shows yet another tool in Antonio Conte’s toolbox. Chelsea withdrew their high pressing line against Southampton, keeping the centre-midfielders on the Blue side of the pitch for much of the game.
More from The Pride of London
- Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea player ratings: Abysmal, reckless, wasteful
- Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea: 3 Blues talking points
- Bournemouth vs Chelsea: 1 Blue Mauricio Pochettino should drop
- Bournemouth vs Chelsea: 3 Blues who must start
- Predicted Chelsea lineup vs Bournemouth: Palmer starts in 4-2-3-1
Control of the midfield was critical towards the clean sheet. The Blues’ midfielders sharply restricted Charlie Austin’s view of the goal. Just as importantly, they reduced the centre-backs’ opportunities to make that one crucial error that could bring the Saints back into the match.
Gary Cahill and David Luiz combined to win zero aerial duels. Marcos Alonso dominated the air for Chelsea, winning all five aerial duels he entered. Cesar Azpilicueta and N’Golo Kante – two of Chelsea’s shortest players, and certainly shorter than Cahill and Luiz – each won one face-off in the air.
Alonso, Azpilicueta and Kante ground Southampton’s build-ups to a halt. Azpilicueta led all players with nine tackles. He and Alonso each had went 7/7 in clearances and 4/4 in headed clearances, topping the sheet in both categories. Kante led with seven interceptions. In fact, the only significant defensive stat this trio did not lead was blocks. David Luiz had two.
Chelsea was not much cleaner offensively. Their 78% pass completion was their lowest of the season. N’Golo Kante was the only Blue among the game’s top five passers.
For all the beauty of his long-range curler for Chelsea’s second, Diego Costa missed several opportunities to bag at least a brace. In the 62′ Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster spilled a rebound point-blank in front of his net. Costa, Eden Hazard and Pedro combined for a Keystone Kops-style bounce-around in front of Forster that Southampton somehow escaped.
On both sides of his goal, Costa went in clear on Forster. Forster saved the first effort, and Costa sailed the second over the cross-bar.
The Blues played effectively against Southampton. They met the challenge of an ascendant Premier League side that is much more accustomed to playing traditional English football than the free-flowing continental styles at the top of the table.
Next: Three takeaways from Chelsea's win over Southampton
Chelsea will play many more games against the Southampton’s of the world than the Manchesters’ and London giants. Being able to grind out three points against mid-table teams builds the foundation to challenge the top-tier contenders.
Data from Stats Zone except where otherwise noted.