Chelsea 3 Southampton 0
Chelsea: Cahill 55', Terry 62', Ba 90'
Southampton: Rodriguez 1'
Man of the match: John Terry (Chelsea)
John Terry celebrated his 400th Premier League appearance for Chelsea by scoring in a 3-1 win over Southampton on Sunday that moved them to second in the Premier League table.
Despite falling behind 13 seconds into the match after Jay Rodriguez punished a poor Michael Essien back pass, goals from Gary Cahill, Terry and Demba Ba moved Chelsea to within four points of leaders Arsenal.
“It’s very significant for me. It’s a huge achievement to maintain it at a top club like I have,” Terry told Sky Sports of his 400th league game.
“I’m very proud of that. I’m thankful for the fans, as well, for sticking by me and the club as well. Hopefully, there’s many more to come this season and maybe next.”
Terry’s central defensive partner Cahill bemoaned a slow start by Chelsea, which saw them concede moments into the game.
“I think we just started off a bit slow. It was the worst possible start for us and it makes it a bit nervy from then on,” he said.
Cahill said that manager Jose Mourinho reassured his players at half time, when Chelsea trailed 1-0.
“He stressed not to really worry about that first half,” Cahill said.
Mourinho told the BBC: “What can you do when they score after 13 seconds? It was the worst possible start, but we were able to keep balanced and take a risk in the second half.
“We kept calm and the second-half performance was really good. We showed heart and a bit of quality. I told them at half time that it is easy to play when you are winning, but it is more enjoyable to win when you had been losing. They showed character and Juan Mata was a fake winger. We gave Southampton problems that they could not solve.
“In this crazy league, this result is important, as once again title contenders have dropped points.”
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
