Tuchel hails Chelsea for their deserved win over Saints after back-to-back defeats

Thomas Tuchel claims he could not believe Chelsea were denied a goal in the first half before they triumphed in a 'better performance' against Southampton.

Chelsea returned to winning-form as they bounced back from back-to-back defeats to beat a winless Southampton 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Goals from Trevor Chalobah, Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell boosted Thomas Tuchel's side to the top of the league.

The Chelsea manager feels his team deserved the resounding win after claiming they're 'not afraid to lose' following defeats to Manchester City and Juventus earlier this week.

'For today we are top of the league and tomorrow there are still games,' Tuchel told BBC Radio 5 Live.

'After two defeats we had to be careful that we didn't start being too sad or too worried because there was a chance to be on 16 points.

'It was important to have a better performance than the last two games, that we sharpened our mindset so that we are not afraid to lose. It was nice to play the way we did and get a deserved win.'

Despite the convincing result, the Chelsea boss was left exasperated on the touchline following VAR ruling against the Blues.

Timo Werner looked to have doubled their lead in the 41st-minute after heading home following a neatly clipped Callum Hudson-Odoi cross. But his header was ultimately ruled out by VAR due to a foul earlier in the move.

Tuchel was furious at this decision as he was shown a yellow card by Martin Atkinson in the aftermath.

After the match, Tuchel bemoaned a VAR decision against Chelsea and the referee's stance on a '50/50' tackle.

'I was very angry because I could never believe this could happen in the Premier League where you would go back to a 50/50 that wasn't even in close connection to the goal,' he said.

'I understood before the season that we didn't want soft touches, that we wanted a contact game.

'We are here today in the middle of London in the rain in an intense game but the ref disallowed the goal.'