Chelsea’s £30m signing Willian shows he is the real deal again

Willian (C)

Chelsea underlined their title credentials with a 3-0 win at Southampton, leaving them two points and two places behind leaders Arsenal. Fernando Torres, Willian and Oscar scored the goals that gave them the win, that means that they have only lost one of their last nine Premier League games. Southampton have now failed to win their last four home games, and sit ninth in the league with 29 points.

Key Stats

Chelsea scored their three goals from just five shots on target, and the stats suggest a closer game than the scoreline suggests. Southampton had more possession than Chelsea and managed one more shot. However Chelsea more clinical with their shooting, hitting the target with five of 11 shots and Southampton with just two from 12. Jose Mourinho’s side bullied Southampton at times, completing 69% of their tackles compared to just 26% by the Saints.

Performance Score

By Squawka Performance Score, Chelsea edged their south coast opponents for most of the match. After a tight opening period, Chelsea didn’t look back after taking the lead and rammed home their advantage with two further goals to leave them comfortably ahead of Southampton in both goals and performance score.

Man of the Match

Despite only entering the action in the 52nd minute, Willian pips teammate Fernando Torres to pick up the man of the match award. He wrapped up the points for Chelsea with a well taken goal in the 71st minute and completed 88% of his passes. He also contributed defensively, with one clearance and three tackles – more than Southampton trio Morgan Schneiderlin, Jack Cork and Steven Davis managed in the entire match.

Key Observations

Southampton Crosses (0-60 minutes)

Whilst Chelsea cruised once they had taken the lead, they were tested in an end to end first half. Fernando Torres nodded Mourinho’s side in front on the hour mark, but prior to that the Stamford Bridge outfit had produced some last ditch defending. Southampton peppered the Chelsea box with crosses, producing 17 crosses by the time that Torres opened the scoring. However only six of these found their targets, due to a combination of the aerial prowess of John Terry and Gary Cahill and the absence of Rickie Lambert from the Southampton starting eleven. Chelsea made 20 clearances in the opening hour of the game and also won 12 of the 18 headed duels in the opening hour.

Chelsea Clearances 0-60 minutes

Having stood up to the physical battle, Chelsea then stepped up their performance with the ball in the second half. Guilty at times in the first half of playing to the conditions, Chelsea ended the first half with a pass accuracy of just 69%. However they upped this to 76% in the second half. When in possession, they moved the ball quickly. Aided by Southampton’s woeful record of making just 11 of 42 attempted tackles, Chelsea completed 23 of 31 attempted take ons over the course of the match.