Chelsea moved second in the Premier League after the Blues earned an emphatic 3-1 victory over Southampton at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho included Juan Mata into the side for this tie. The Spaniard was not included in Chelsea’s last two matches after the international break and following the defeat at the hands of Basel, he was included in the 3-man attacking midfield behind Fernando Torres.
Mata started from the right, Oscar as usual in his no 10 role while Hazard started from the left. But, after Oscar was withdrawn in the first half, we found the influence of Mata, more and more into the game in the second half.
Mata was directly involved in both the goals. It was from his brilliantly taken corner, Gary Cahill headed in, though Demba Ba did a nice work too. For the second goal, John Terry scored a brilliant header from another superb delivery from Mata.
He had 79 touches in the match, more than any other Chelsea player on the pitch. With 1 shot on target, 2 successful dribbles, 2 tackles, 53 passes – more than any other Chelsea player on pitch and 5 key passes, needless to say, it was a complete performance from the Spain international.
The question is – will Mourinho trust him more now? After delivering such a superb performance, Mourinho must keep faith in him. After all, we are talking about a world class player, who has been the best performer of Chelsea last season.
Chelsea have an avalanche of attacking midfield players and there would be occasions when Mourinho will have to rotate the squad to full effect, but he must from now on, give Mata more regular chances into the side.
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