New tactics prove special for Chelsea

Jose Mourinho took another of his Pat Cash-style detours into the crowd to mark victory here. When, in the last moments of this match, substitute Demba Ba slid home Ramires's pass to ensure Chelsea remain second in the Premier League, four points behind Arsenal, the manager sprinted from his technical area, up into the stand to seek out his son, who was sitting a few rows back from the dugout.

Any more of this and he will be wearing a chequered headband rather than a designer overcoat. In the warmth of the father-and-son moment of bonding, however, was expression of the relief the Portuguese must have felt at securing three points. Because the manager will know this was more a Chelsea performance out of the bottle than a special one. For the first 45 minutes his side looked discomfited by a spirited, vigorous and well-disciplined Southamp-ton.

Second to the ball, bereft of control, lacking in possession, they were behind within 13 seconds of the kick-off and looked for most of the half without much clue how to break down their obdurate visitors. But by dint of sweat and toil they eventually regained the supremacy; the mark of champions after all is to play badly and secure three points. Not that Mourinho saw it like that. "I think even in the first half we played with balance and calm, we didn't panic," the manager said.

"This was the sign of a team step-by-step understanding my mentality. It is a sign of maturity." In truth, though he was being unduly modest not to point it out, this was also a sign of astute -management. In many ways, it was his shrewd tactical adjustment at half time that secured the three points. He had started with a rare selection of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar, the adventurous trio that every Chelsea fan wants to see on the team sheet.

But Southampton, executing the same game plan they had adopted at the Emirates Stadium last weekend, began by refusing to yield the gilded threesome the room to exercise control. Playing the highest of lines, with Victor Wanyama snapping and Dejan Lovren snuffing out every forward incursion, Southampton were set up by Mauricio Pochettino to disrupt and unsettle. Though even they must have been astonished how quickly the manager's destructive planning paid off.

Almost from the kick-off, the hapless Michael Essien, making his first Chelsea appearance in 19 months, lofted a back pass into the path of Jay Rodriguez and Southampton were ahead. "It was the worst possible start," said Mourinho, who was seen ruefully smiling at his old stalwart's error. "A knife in the back."

Essien's other contribution to the half was a pantomime dive with which he earned a yellow card. It was probably to spare the Ghanaian further humiliation that Mourinho substituted him at half-time for Ba. That and to alter his tactics to a more direct, muscular, forceful approach. "We were losing, we were not producing enough," the manager said of his reasons to switch to 4-4-2.

"I think we gave Southampton a different game, a game they didn't expect." It began to work almost from the restart. Ba and Fernando Torres supplied the towering Southampton centre backs Lovren and Jose Fonte with far more to concern them, stopping the visitors' build-up of momentum from defence. No longer did Lovren have the time to supply his neat forward passes; under pressure from the vigorous Chelsea front pair, he was obliged to hoof the ball forward, immediately ceding possession.

Plus the home side began to seize the opportunity provided by set pieces. In the 53rd minute, Frank Lampard, who had replaced a hobbling Oscar, spanked a free kick at the Southampton goal, which Artur Boruc pushed over. From Mata's resulting corner, an almighty scramble sparked by Branislav Ivanovic saw Ba hit the post and Gary Cahill head home the rebound. It was an -equaliser hewn of muscle, power and a refusal to yield. In the melee, the Southampton keeper Artur Boruc, who had preserved his side's lead with a save worthy of Gordon Banks from Torres in the first half, fractured his left hand and was later ruled out for six weeks. He was replaced by Paulo -Gazzaniga, and within five minutes the Argentine substitute was picking the ball from the back of his net.

From another flighted corner by Mata, John Terry marked his 400th Premier League appearance with a fine header. By now, despite Ricky Lambert sending an inviting chip across the face of the Chelsea goal which was but an applied stud away from securing an equaliser, Chelsea were in full control. Mata played the pass of the game, a beautiful volley from within his own half to set Hazard away.

And then Ba confirmed the win at the death. On a weekend in which Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United all dropped points, it was enough to send Mourinho sprinting into the arms of his family, to enjoy the moment his tactics bore such fruit.