Chelsea played host to Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as the Blues looked to rediscover their winning form after losing two consecutive games in all competitions. As expected, they made an excellent start by opening the scoring through Trevoh Chalobah in the 8′. Thomas Tuchel’s men protected their lead well and should have even extended their lead, but VAR had other plans.
In the second half, Southampton came out guns blazing and pinned back the Chelsea team. Saints were finally rewarded with a penalty—which was won by Valentino Livramento. James Ward-Prowse converted that penalty to make the score 1-1. However, the Southampton captain was sent off in the 77′ for making a dangerous tackle on Jorginho. This made life difficult for the visitors. Chelsea made the numerical advantage count as Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell both scored and secured the points.
Let’s take a look at how each Chelsea player fared against Southampton:
Edouard Mendy (Goalkeeper): 6/10
A very average performance today from Edouard Mendy. Throughout the game, the Senegalese goalkeeper was barely tested. But even then, Mendy didn’t look comfortable with the ball and was sloppy in both clearing and passing the ball to his teammates. When called into action the 29-year-old couldn’t save Ward-Prowse’s penalty.
Trevoh Chalobah (Right centerback): 8/10
One of the star players of the game on Saturday was Chalobah. The academy graduate scored his second goal of the season just eight minutes after the start, stooping low and finishing a corner which was guided at the back post by Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Calobah defensively also was solid with the joint-most ariel duels won, most tackles attempted and most clearances made.
Thiago Silva (Centerback): 7/10
The Brazilian veteran started the game in a very uninspiring fashion with some doggy passing. Nevertheless, to the team’s advantage, the defender came back in his stride and controlled the defense with his excellent passing. The 37-year-old Thiago Silva got booked in the second half of the game for a hefty challenge on Nathan Redmond.
Antonio Rudiger (Left centerback): 7/10
Antonio Rudiger throughout the game was very solid defensively and kept the likes of Adam Armstrong at bay. He advanced to the opponents half many times and on one instance, he ran through for a brilliant run created a goal for Romelu Lukaku, which was rightly ruled offside.