Chelsea 3 Southampton 1: We showed heart, says Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho praised Chelsea’s spirit after the Blues came from a goal down to beat Southampton.

Jay Rodriguez capitalised on a Michael Essien error to put the visitors 1-0 up after just 13 seconds at Stamford Bridge.

But Chelsea battled back after the break and Gary Cahill equalised before John Terry headed in Juan Mata’s cross to make it 2-1.

Substitute Demba Ba then slotted home late on to keep Chelsea in second place in the table, four points behind Arsenal.

“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,” said Mourinho.

“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.

“The players showed character. [Juan] Mata was like a fake winger because he was playing inside all the time. We gave Southampton problems that they could not solve.

“It’s a very deserved result. In this crazy league this result is very, very important as once again title contenders have dropped points.”