Thomas Tuchel was overjoyed that Chelsea was able to overcome a lot of injury concerns to defeat Southampton in the fourth round of the EFL Cup.
Despite the absences of Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Blues advanced to the final eight thanks to a penalty shootout.
Tuchel was relieved to gain a spot in the quarter-finals despite the fact that the tournament remains at the bottom of Chelsea’s priority list. It must be stated that with this win. The team does come closer to the idea of them being able to win a Domestic tremble. Chelsea has been on quite a good run of games since their loss to Manchester City.
Southampton Gave Chelsea A Run For Their Money
Chelsea took the lead through Kai Havertz. In the absence of the injured attack combo of Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner. But Che Adams equalised early in the second half.
Chelsea set the tone with a tempting corner from which Saul Niguez beat Forster into a fantastic save in the sixth minute. Havertz came close twice before piercing Southampton’s resolve on the stroke of half-time. When a defensive slip enabled the Germany international to head home Hakim Ziyech’s corner.
Reece James struck the game-winning penalty for the league leaders after Theo Walcott and Will Smallbone failed to strike the target for the Saints.
Both teams made changes for the match. With Chelsea putting in six different players from the weekend’s 7-0 Premier League triumph over Norwich. And the visitors bringing in nine.
Southampton, on the other hand. Reacted two minutes later when Che Adams stabbed in from close range after Kepa mishandled Kyle Walker-Peters’ attempt.
The Blues have had a strong start to the season, both at home and in Europe. As they lead the Premier League and have won two of their three Champions League games thus far.
With games coming thick and fast. Tuchel rightly chose to rest some of his first-team players and give others on the margins a chance to shine.
There were varied performances from those who came in, with Kepa standing out with a critical double to save and Saul Niguez twice coming close to opening his account for the club.
However, Ross Barkley, who was making his first start of the season, and Hakim Ziyech were mainly anonymous and were substituted with 23 minutes remaining.
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