Chelsea 3-1 Southampton: Player ratings as dominant Blues secure crucial win

Chelsea got back to winning ways as they secured a 3-1 victory over Southampton on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Stamford Bridge.

Thomas Tuchel chose to make plenty of changes to his lineup for this one, and the results were almost immediate as Chelsea took the lead just nine minutes in. Trevoh Chalobah found himself unmarked in the box to head home from close range from a corner.

Chelsea were on top for the remainder of the half and had the ball in the back of the net twice more. Romelu Lukaku had an effort ruled out for offside before VAR chimed in to strike off a Timo Werner header.

Southampton switched to a 4-3-3 at the interval to fill some of the holes on the pitch, and they came out with a renewed sense of purpose. Tino Livramento won his side a penalty on the hour mark and James Ward-Prowse made no mistake from the spot to tie things up.

However, Ward-Prowse's ecstasy faded 15 minutes later when Ward-Prowse was shown a red card for a nasty challenge on Jorginho.

That gave Chelsea the boost they needed and with just over five minutes to go, they got the second goal they had been looking for as Werner fired home from close range.

Chelsea snatched a third in the dying embers after a frantic goal-mouth scramble. After two hits of the post, Ben Chilwell thumped home a volley which needed goal-line technology to award.

Chelsea player ratings

1. Goalkeeper & defenders

Edouard Mendy (GK) - 6/10 - A passenger for most of the game. Unlucky to lose his clean sheet.

Trevoh Chalobah (CB) - 8/10 - A nice finish to open the scoring and some excellent defensive work on the right. Bodied Tella and Walker-Peters whenever they tried to get forwards.

Thiago Silva (CB) - 7/10 - Just so calm and composed. Looked immune to pressure as he routinely recovered possession. Classy as ever.

Antonio Rudiger (CB) - 7/10 - Nearly had the best assist you've ever seen for Lukaku's goal. Really solid at the back too.

2. Midfielders

Cesar Azpilicueta (RM) - 6/10 - Very unlucky to be called up for a foul for Werner's header. Put in a good shift down the right.

Mateo Kovacic (CM) - 7/10 - Flew around the pitch and pulled off some unreal passes. Absolutely ran the show in the first half but saw his influence fade after the break.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek (CM) - 8/10 - On his first Chelsea start in 384 days, put in a perfect box-to-box performance. Needs to learn when to release a pass but was nearly impossible to shake off the ball. So much fun.

Ben Chilwell (LM) - 7/10 - Did well in attack but got cooked by Livramento to give away the penalty. Redeemed himself with a great late goal.

3. Forwards

Timo Werner (RW) - 8/10 - Deserved to see his first goal stand purely because of his work rate but did not slow down and finally bagged the winner.

Romelu Lukaku (ST) - 6/10 - Enjoyed having more team-mates around him and bullied Southampton's centre-backs without even trying, but was still a little too quiet.

Callum Hudson-Odoi (LW) - 7/10 - Finally deployed on his preferred left wing. Some really dangerous runs and deserved an assist or two. Replaced by Mount after 65 minutes.

4. Substitutes

Mason Mount (AM) - 6/10 - Brought some real energy and drive. Looks to have recovered from his injury.

Jorginho (CM) - 6/10 - Cropped by Ward-Prowse almost immediately after coming on.

Ross Barkley (CM) - 7/10 - Replaced Loftus-Cheek late on and involved himself in Chelsea's winner with his second touch of the ball.

Southampton player ratings

5. Goalkeeper & defenders

Alex McCarthy (GK) - 6/10 - Might have been picking the ball out of his net a lot but McCarthy stopped this being embarrassing with plenty of tidy saves. Some worldie saves from Chilwell and Werner.

Tino Livramento (RB) - 6/10 - Lost his battle of the Chelsea academy graduates against Hudson-Odoi but did very well to win his side the penalty.

Jan Bednarek (CB) - 5/10 - A tricky one to grade. Spent his entire game stood on Lukaku and did a good job of that, but got cooked with everything else he did.

Mohammed Salisu (CB) - 7/10 - Coped well with Lukaku and enjoyed his battle with Werner out on the right.

Kyle Walker-Peters (LB) - 5/10 - Couldn't get past Chalobah in attack and was constantly caught out of position by Werner's pace. Fortunate to get away with some sloppy play for Werner's header. Calmed down with some extra cover after the break.

6. Midfielders

Theo Walcott (RM) - 4/10 - Should have scored a header and was hooked at the break after an underwhelming 45.

Oriol Romeu (CM) - 5/10 - Woeful in a two-man midfield but dropped deeper in the second half and benefitted from the added protection around him.

James Ward-Prowse (CM) - 3/10 - Couldn't get on the ball nearly enough and was a defensive liability when Chelsea went barrelling forwards. Sent off for a nasty challenge on Jorginho, but did at least take his penalty well.

Nathan Tella (LM) - 5/10 - Had a few good moves down the left and looked more likely to create a goal than anyone else (which is barely a compliment).

7. Forwards

Nathan Redmond (ST) - 3/10 - Barely even registered he was on the pitch.

Adam Armstrong (ST) - 5/10 - Couldn't get involved as much as he'd have wanted but had some good flashes running at Chelsea's backline.

8. Substitutes

Ibrahima Diallo (CM) - 7/10 - His introduction inspired Southampton's comeback. Changed the game before the red card changed it back.

Moussa Djenepo (LM) - 5/10 - Struggled to make the desired impact.

Mohamed Elyounoussi (RM) - N/A - Didn't have long to do anything.