Raheem Sterling opened his Chelsea account with a delightful double in the win over Crystal Palace and the Englishman started sharply at St Mary’s. Armel Bella-Kotchap got the better of Sterling on 21 minutes when the winger attempted to slip past him but on 23 minutes it was the former Manchester City man who lost his marker to tap in from close range after incisive work by Mason Mount.
It's been a mixed start to the season for Southampton with just one win from their opening four games and many have tipped Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side to languish around the relegation zone. The Austrian seems to have completed some very smart business though, acquiring the services of Bella-Kotchap and the equally impressive Roméo Lavia however, and it was 18-year-old Lavia who led the Southampton response five minutes later. A poor Saints’ corner was comfortably cleared but only as far as the Belgian midfielder, who took one touch on the edge of the box to set himself before hammering a right-footed strike past Édouard Mendy. The turnaround was complete just before HT, when Southampton worked the ball nicely over to Romain Perraud on the left who fired a cross into Adam Armstrong for the Englishman to powerfully put away.
Before kick-off Chelsea were unbeaten in five of the last six matches against Southampton in all competitions but their partiality to conceding goals has been their undoing in recent weeks. So it was unsurprising when the Saints nearly got a third through Mohammed Salisu’s close-range header, before it was miraculously cleared off the line in nonchalant fashion by Thiago Silva. Thomas Tuchel has a plethora of attacking options at his disposal, albeit without an out-and-out centre forward but none of his substitutions rendered the required impact as Bella-Kotchap and Co. stood firm.
As early as it is in the Premier League season, Chelsea remain five points behind leaders Arsenal, with the Gunners playing tomorrow, and Tuchel will be highly troubled by his side’s fragilities at the back and continuation in dropping points to supposed inferior teams at this stage of the campaign.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Armel Bella-Kotchap (Southampton)