This might well prove the last time Jose Mourinho uses Michael ‘The Train’ Essien. A player once likened to a locomotive by his team-mates seems to have suffered a devastating loss of power and his first Barclays Premier League appearance since May 2012 was disastrous.

But what about Juan Mata? Many more performances like this, in encounters of the magnitude of Sunday’s at Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea’s manager will struggle to ignore the sensational little Spaniard again

He will feel rather differently about Essien. His reckless backpass enabled Jay Rodriguez to score after only 13 seconds and before he was substituted by Mourinho at half-time, Essien had been booked for diving deep in his own half, an act of desperation if ever there was one.

Rodriguez’s goal made this a difficult game for Chelsea. In the end Southampton would lose their advantage to two goals from set-pieces. But their defensive organisation, until Gary Cahill equalised, was a major source of frustration for a team looking to close the gap on Arsenal to four points.

In Mata, however, Chelsea had a player capable of navigating a way through and it was a truly exceptional ball from him that John Terry met with a marvellous header to mark his 400th Premier League appearance in style. ‘In the second half he gave us what we needed,’ Mourinho said of Mata, who was making his first start since November 2.

For Mourinho the win must have been most satisfying. Not for the first time this season, his team threatened to blow an unbeaten run under his leadership that extends to 67 home games in the league. But a tactical reshuffle at half-time, that saw Demba Ba replace Essien and join a determined Fernando Torres up front in a more orthodox 4-4-2, led to a second-half display that demonstrated Chelsea’s intent and ability to make a real contest of the title race.

It was why, you suspect, Mourinho responded as he did to Ba’s 90th-minute goal. He said he bounced up the steps behind the Chelsea dug-out to celebrate with his son, Jose Jnr, simply because ‘it was the goal that gave us victory’. But it looked like much more than that. There was a sense of belief as well as relief and because it was Ba, he might have been hoping a certain Romelu Lukaku was watching too.

Victory allowed him to forgive Essien for that first-minute blunder. ‘Everybody makes a mistake,’ said Mourinho, even if he might not have been quite so generous when Rodriguez accelerated between Terry and Cahill to meet Essien’s ball before guiding a right-foot shot beyond Petr Cech.

It was, Mourinho said, ‘a knife in the back’ for the home side. And there would be a further setback when Oscar limped off after colliding with Victor Wanyama.

The equaliser came 10 minutes after the break, with Mata delivering the corner that was met by Branislav Ivanovic and directed against a post by Ba. The ball then brushed Terry’s head before Cahill nodded it back beyond the reach of a beaten Artur Boruc

Southampton’s goalkeeper would play no further part, the Polish international seemingly hurting his left-hand amid the chaos in the six-yard box. But replacement Paulo Gazzaniga wasn’t at fault when Terry darted ahead of Rodriguez to send a header beyond his reach seven minutes later.

What followed was a tense half- hour, Mourinho kicking out at an imaginary ball and Mauricio Pochettino driving his left foot into a crate of drinks bottles.

Mourinho was becoming particularly unhappy with Chelsea’s tendency to drop too deep, even though he kept ordering Mata to drop back and support Ivanovic in dealing with a series of overlaps down the left flank.

Not until Ba struck did Mourinho relax. The former Newcastle striker had already been applauded by his manager for his defensive work, but when he surged ahead of Dejan Lovren to meet a delivery from the tireless Ramires with a lunging finish, he gave Mourinho a real cause for celebration.

—Daily Mail