Southampton 3-1

Independent:

Chelsea 3 Southampton 1
Demba Ba transforms Chelsea after Jose Mourinho’s magic touch
Victory lifts Blues to within four points of Premier League leaders Arsenal
By JACK PITT-BROOKE

This did not, at half-time, look like a vintage performance from Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
They were 1-0 down, at home, to Southampton, having conceded in just 13 seconds, after which they were very well-matched by the excellent Saints.
What followed, though, was the reminder that many people had been waiting for; that Mourinho is different, that he is able to turn football matches almost through a simple flick of a switch. At the interval he withdrew Michael Essien and brought on Demba Ba, abandoning his 4-2-3-1 for a 4-4-2.
Chelsea were transformed, playing with far more presence, power and purpose, looking – in a way they have not always done this season – like a true Mourinho side. They equalised and took the lead with two headers from corners within seven second-half minutes before Ba, the man who had changed it all, scored the last goal in the last minute.
It was entirely deserved given Chelsea’s dramatic improvement. In the first half they were pressurised hard by Southampton. In the second half Mourinho reversed the roles.
“Our 4-4-2 gave Southampton a different game, a game they did not expect,” Mourinho explained afterwards. “We were losing, we were not producing enough, and my feeling was not to wait but to give the opponent a new problem immediately.”
In the first half Saints were ferocious without the ball but very methodical with it. In the second half they barely got a touch. “[Southampton] like to play the ball from the back,” Mourinho said, “and playing with two strikers meant that they couldn’t play from behind. They started building long, and that allowed my team to play more in the opponents’ half and to create chances.”
Chelsea’s high squeeze was relentless, as Ba and Torres swarmed over Jose Fonte and Dejan Lovren, building up pressure until the inevitable goals came. The first was seven minutes after the re-start. Juan Mata swung in a corner from the left, Branislav Ivanovic headed at goal, Ba turned it onto the post and Gary Cahill rearranged his body to nod the rebound past Artur Boruc, who injured himself in the attempted save. From that point, even at 1-1, only one team was going to win and no-one was surprised when Chelsea went ahead from another set-piece.
Seven minutes after the equaliser, another Mata corner was briefly cleared but Frank Lampard – on for the injured Oscar – passed the ball back to Mata, free on the left. He crossed again and John Terry jumped highest at the near post, glancing the ball over Paulo Gazzaniga and into the far top corner.
Mauricio Pochettino bemoaned two “soft goals” but his team were unlikely to survive Chelsea’s long storm. They had no real response. They could not get enough of the ball to create anything and when Pochettino mirrored Mourinho’s move to 4-4-2, introducing Rickie Lambert for Morgan Schneiderlin, it was too late. Never in the second half did Chelsea slow down, and Ba and Torres both could have added a third before Ba diverted Ramires’s clever pass in at the near post in the last minute.
It was not the likeliest outcome given how the game started. It took Southampton just 13 seconds to take the lead. Essien, making his first league start for Chelsea since May 2012, lifted a back-pass perfectly between Cahill and Petr Cech, allowing Jay Rodriguez to steal in and put Saints ahead.
With their ambitious pressing and high intensity, Southampton showed Chelsea no deference whatsoever. Having won at Liverpool and drawn at Manchester United this season, Southampton are clearly not fazed by fame. After scoring, they looked worthy of the lead, pressing Chelsea wherever possible but never quite making a good enough chance for a second goal.
Boruc had a few saves to make – from Oscar from distance, from Mata from close-range and then impressively from a Torres header – and the first-half performance was not the worst of Chelsea’s season. But it was their improvement after the break won them the game – closing the gap on Arsenal to four points – and making them look like serious contenders.
“The boys have to cope with the responsibility of being there,” Mourinho said, knowing that this young team does not have quite the same nous and experience of his first Chelsea side, and that a few of them will almost have to be nursed through their first real Premier League title race by the master title-winner himself.
“Some of the players, the ones that are not complete in my mentality or philosophy, are adapting progressively, feeling the responsibility that Chelsea cannot in December be completely out of the title race. They must feel the responsibility of playing for Chelsea, and that was a sign of maturity.”

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Cech 5; Ivanovic 6, Cahill 6, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 5; Ramires 6, Essien 4 (Ba, 45, 7); Mata 7, Oscar 5 (Lampard, 41, 5), Hazard 6; Torres 7 (Mikel, 81)

Southampton (4-2-3-1) Boruc 7 (Gazzaniga, 58, 5); Clyne 5, Fonte 6, Lovren 6, Shaw 6; Wanyama 5, Schneiderlin 7 (Lambert, 69, 5); Ward-Prowse 6 (Davis, 63, 5), Lallana 6, Rodriguez 6; Osvaldo 5
Man of match: Torres
Match rating: 8

============

Guardian:

Chelsea's Demba Ba adds gloss to comeback win over Southampton

Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge

José Mourinho had not counted on Southampton being one of the six Premier League title contenders when sizing up the division on his return to English football but, in coming from behind to overwhelm Mauricio Pochettino's impressive side, Chelsea issued their latest statement of grand intent.
Transforming this occasion from half-time grumbles to full-time celebrations seemed psychologically significant. It was also impressive. The visitors had led inside 15 seconds and have forged a reputation for being defensively strong and menacing on the counterattack. The scenario appeared tailor-made for them to thrive. Mustering a turn-around was never guaranteed so, by ending up so comfortable, Chelsea laid down a marker.
Mourinho claimed to have been reassured by his side's "balance" and calmness even in a first half when they only occasionally threatened to equalise, though it was their dominance after the interval that really offered promise. Juan Mata, restored to the starting line-up, was their creative hub, forever cutting inside his full-back to deliver the vicious centres which have illuminated Chelsea's approach in recent seasons. This team's challenge looks more persuasive when the Spaniard is reintegrated.
Demba Ba, muscular and direct, unsettled the previously serene José Fonte and Dejan Lovren and even registered a first league goal of the season in stoppage time. "They like to play the ball out from the back but switching to 4-4-2 and playing with two strikers meant they had to build long," Mourinho said. "That allowed us to play more in their half and create chances." Chelsea won free-kicks and corners at will against uncharacteristically flustered opponents. Southampton, a side so keen to press high upfield, had been thrust back into their shells and their defence eventually cracked.
A pair of goals from set pieces around the hour established Chelsea's dominance. First Mata's corner was nodded down by Branislav Ivanovic for Ba to prod against the post from close range and Gary Cahill reacted superbly to twist his body and nod into the gaping net. Artur Boruc, outstanding in denying Fernando Torres's header before the break, damaged his hand as he wrapped himself round a post. He eventually wandered from the field and off to hospital for an x-ray that revealed it was broken. The keeper will be out for six weeks. His replacement, the former Gillingham youngster Paulo Gazzaniga, had not played since a defeat at Anfield exactly a year ago and, as Michael Essien had already proved by then, this was no occasion to restore a reputation.
His first involvement was to retrieve the ball from the net after Southampton failed to clear another Mata corner. His follow-up cross was met emphatically by John Terry, easing himself away from Jay Rodriguez, and the captain's header was a fine way to celebrate his 400th Premier League appearance. Chelsea might have added more before Ba's slide and conversion from Ramires' pass added gloss.
"The win was a sign of a team that's progressing step by step and understanding my ideas and mentality," Mourinho said. "Some of the players are understanding that Chelsea must not be completely out of the title race in December, as has happened in some recent years. The boys in the team have to cope with the responsibility of being there, near the top, but this result was a sign of maturity. We kept balance and calm, even after their goal felt like a knife in our back."
It had been the speed at which Southampton secured that lead that had left the hosts momentarily reeling. Pochettino's side had made three passes from the kick-off before Essien, his radar scrambled, intercepted and poked a tentative back-pass over a stunned Cahill to bisect his own centre-halves immaculately. Rodriguez, demonstrating the cool and poise Essien lacked, darted through and on to the loose pass to convert simply beyond Petr Cech with the home defence already beginning their inquest in the goalmouth.
Essien was understandably crestfallen. This had been a first Premier League start since May 2012, and the glorious send-off before Roberto Di Matteo's team travelled to Munich for the Champions League final, and his rustiness was understandable, given he had begun only two League Cup ties since returning to the club from a loan spell under Mourinho at Real Madrid. His afternoon hardly improved thereafter, with a caution for a dive and his withdrawal at the interval, when he was replaced by Ba. "Everybody makes mistakes," said Mourinho.
Southampton need not be too deflated by a second successive defeat, coming after that at the leaders, Arsenal. Boruc's departure rather unsettled their approach and the momentum had switched the moment the equaliser was scored, but there were still passages of authoritative play that justified their lofty position. The visit of Aston Villa to St Mary's on Wednesday will offer a chance to make immediate amends. "We're the youngest team in the Premier League, so we're always learning," Pochettino said. This was an education by the end. Chelsea will hope it is a clearer sign of things to come.

Man of the match Juan Mata (Chelsea)

=====================

Telegraph:
Chelsea 3 Southampton 1
By Jim White

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, the 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 dug-out.
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 Southampton. Second to the ball, bereft of control, lacking in possession, they were behind within 13 seconds of the kick-off and looked for much of the half without much clue how to break down their obdurate visitors.
But by dint of sweat and toil they eventually re-gained 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, damaged his left hand and was replaced by Paulo ­Gazzaniga. Within five minutes the Argentinian 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.
“Set pieces, yes,” Mourinho said of his side’s route back into the game. “But the set pieces arrive because we are so dominant.”
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.

==================

Mail:
Chelsea 3 Southampton 1: Cahill, Terry and Ba strike as Blues close in on Arsenal
By MATT LAWTON

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.
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.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Cahill,  Terry, Mata, Essien (Ba, 45), Torres (Mikel, 84), Oscar (Lampard, 42 , Hazard
Subs not used: Cole, Schurrle, Willian, Schwarzer
Goals: Cahill 55, Terry 62
Booked: Essien

Southampton: Boruc, (Gazzaniga, 58), Clyne, Shaw,  Schneiderlin (Lambert, 67), Fonte, Lovren,
Ward-Prowse (Davis, 63), Wanyama, Osvaldo, Lallana, Rodriguez

Subs not used: Yoshida, Cork, Chambers, Hooiveld
Booked: Schneiderlin, Osvaldo, Lallana, Rodriguez
Ref: Michael Oliver
Att: 41,568

================

Mirror:

Chelsea 3-1 Southampton: Jay Rodriguez scores within 14 seconds but Blues fight back for victory

And now for something completely different: Jose Mourinho loves Juan Mata after all.
In the week Monty Python's comeback gig sold out in 43 seconds, what did you expect - the Spanish Inquisition?
As any Python bore will tell you, nobody expects the Spanish Inquistion. But it remains a mystery why Mata is not a nailed-on first choice with the Special One after he orchestrated the fightback which took Chelsea to second in the Premier League.
Mata was Mourinho's fall-guy after the Blues' shock defeat at Newcastle a month ago, banished to the bench for four games despite his creativity and flair.
But as it was the little Spaniard and his fellow matador Fernando Torres led the cavalry charge which sank Southampton, Mourinho had better get the message.
Chelsea are not the finished article as title contenders yet - and if they are going to catch Arsenal, they will be better-served to have Mata supplying the bullets.
After the shock of falling behind inside 13 seconds at Stamford Bridge - even the Pythons can't sell out the O2 that fast - Chelsea were anxious, fitful and flagging like a club runner's undercarriage for 45 minutes.
And there was nothing pretty about the frenzied aerial bombardment which battered the Saints into submission.
But Mata's assured set-piece delivery, and Mourinho's masterful tactical switch by supplementing the pace of Torres with another striker, Demba Ba, at the interval made the difference.
Mourinho called Mata his "fake winger who gave Southampton problems they could not solve."
Whatever the blessed Jose meant by that, his deployment of Mata makes him the winner of the Great British Fake-Off.
Before we eulogise about the Special One's enduring genius, a word about Southampton.
They may be down to seventh after successive defeats at Arsenal and Chelsea, but they are nobody's pushovers.
With their nucleus of home-grown and English talent, Saints have become a model for clubs who grow their own Three Lions internationals of the future.
Mauricio Pochettino's men won at Liverpool, drew at Old Trafford and were good value for their half-time lead until Mourinho sent in the Luftwaffe.
Saints could not have enjoyed a better start if they had gone down the Fulham Road rattling a collection bucket as Michael Essien, making his first Premier League start for 18 months, gave generously.
Fall-guy Essien, who made way for Ba at the break, was wretchedly at fault as his sliced clearance dissected centre-backs John Terry and Gary Cahill perfectly, leaving Jay Rodriguez to plunder and be merry.
Mourinho described Chelsea's wake-up call as "a knife in our back" and claimed they did well to play with "no panic, no more mistakes" until he delved into his box of tricks and came up with Mata the fake winger.
Torres, lively and committed throughout, had tested Artur Boruc with a glancing header four minutes before the break but Chelsea had to wait until 10 minutes after the restart to haul themselves level.
Branislav Ivanovic's header. from Mata's right-wing corner, was drifting wide until Ba stretched to prod it against the far post and Cahill stooped to conquer from the rebound, his first goal of the season.
Boruc, colliding with the upright, injured his hand and his replacement Paulo Gazzaniga had barely pulled on his gloves when Terry rose to meet Mata's left-wing cross with a fine, looping header into the top corner - and Southampton, who had not lost after going ahead this season, never looked like retrieving the deficit.
Gary Lineker, the bard of Match of the Day, tweeted: "Given England's blatant weakness in central defence, would a call from Roy Hodgson to John Terry be on the cards?"
At the Bridge, Terry remains as revered as turkeys love redcurrant jelly, but surely to reverse his international retirement now would cause unrest in the shires.
Undeniably, he was a rock as Chelsea battened down the hatches and substitute Ba, stretching to prod Ramires' cross beyond Gazzaniga at the near post, settled all arguments bang on 90 minutes.
But this was Mata's floor show, and even Mourinho was impressed.
"He was good, he gave us what we needed," said the Chelsea manager.

==================

Express:

Chelsea 3 - Southampton 1: Juan Mata wins Jose’s heart
Tony Banks

JOSE MOURINHO’S relationship with Juan Mata has been on-off to say the least. The pair met in the summer, but it took an age for the chemistry to spark, for the feelings to become mutual.

Mata is the romantic, the free spirit, full of glamour, inspiration and flair. Mourinho is the pragmatist, the man of steel and discipline, the clear thinker, who likes things to be rigorous and well-ordered.
It seemed for so long that the pair could not mix, that they were opposites seemingly never destined to entangle hearts and feelings, to trust one another.
Last night though, at an umpromisingly chilly Stamford Bridge, the love affair began to show its first signs of blossoming.
In his first start in the Premier League since November 2, and only his sixth all season, Mata simply ran the show as Chelsea came from behind to register a crucial win, and establish themselves in second place in the league behind Arsenal. The little Spaniard was simply magnificent, his crosses setting up the first two vital goals. And his unerring eye for the defence-splitting pass and the subtle touch turned a game that could have gone horribly wrong for Chelsea.
Demba Ba’s third, late goalcapped a result that was testament to a vastly improved second half by Mourinho’s men, but actually very harsh on Mauricio Pochettino’s vibrant young team.

Mourinho’s treatment of Mata has puzzled many this season
But the Special One had told Mata and Oscar that the place in the front three of midfield was between them.
The winner would keep the spot on the basis of his performances. So far this season Oscar’s greater athleticism and ability to tackle back earned him the slot.
Last night though, Mata, given a rare chance as Mourinho made changes after that desperately disappointing Champions League performance in Basle, showed exactly what he could do.
His touch, as ever, was sublime, his vision acute, his final ball deadly. Chelsea purred where so often this season they have stuttered.
Of course, it is early days in this new relationship. Things can go wrong, and there are suitors out there who have courted Mata this year. Don’t book the church yet – but things are looking up.
It did not, though, start well After just 13 seconds Chelsea, incredibly, were behind, as Michael Essien, another playerback in the side this time after nearly 19 months away, blundered.
His wayward backpass went straight to Jay Rodriguez, who easily beat Petr Cech. Chelsea were at this stage floundering, but they gradually recovered as Gary Cahill and Oscar went close, and then Saints goalkeeperArtur Boruc pulled off an astonishing save from Fernando Torres’ header.
But, as Oscar limped off and then Essien was replaced by Ba and as Chelsea changed their shape, Mata came into his own.
First his corner was nodded down by Branislav Ivanovic, and as Ba thumped a ball against the post, Cahill twisted to nod the ball over the line with keeper Artur Boruc stranded in the back of his net.
Six minutes later Frank Lampard picked up the pieces on the edge of the area and cleverly fed Mata, whose lovely left-footed cross found John Terry lurking, and his glancing header flew in.
Saints, though still breaking swiftly and counter-attacking with an intent that has caught many a team out this season, never really recovered. Both Osvaldo and Rickie Lambert, relegated to the bench, had chances, but wasted them.
Ba broke clear but his low shot missed by an inch. Then, in the last minute, the Senegalese finally struck for his first league goal of the season.
This time it was Ramires who provided an excellent set-up, brilliantly twisting clear of several challenges before delivering a low cross that Ba diverted home.
But the night really belonged to Mata. One can only hope that Jose’s hard heart was melted. It should have been.
Who's a clever boy, Jose?
Next he will be offering to revive dead parrots who have expired, are no more and have ceased to be.

===================

Star:

Chelsea 3 - Southampton 1: Juan Mata leads Blues comeback

CHELSEA might be far from the relentless force they were in Jose Mourinho's first reign but at home in the league it is business as usual.

By Adrian Kajumba

Just as they were rattled last time out by West Brom, the Blues were given another real run for their money.
Yet, come full-time, they had found a way to extend their incredible unbeaten home record under Mourinho to 67 games thanks to a stirring Juan Mata-inspired fightback.
Impressive Southampton looked all set to give another of the big boys a bloody nose when Jay Rodriguez fired them ahead after just 13 seconds.
Pushed But Chelsea hit back after the break thanks to goals from Gary Cahill, John Terry and Demba Ba, whose clincher made the game safe and cut table-toppers Arsenal's lead to four points.
Southampton pushed Chelsea all the way, showing again that their brilliant performances to win at Liverpool and draw at Manchester United were no fluke.
Chelsea didn't help themselves with a poor first-half display when they were shaky at the back, overrun in midfield and lacking spark and fluency up front.
Mourinho's men have also lost the consistency they looked to have found in October when they reeled off six straight wins.
But as they attempt to reel the Gunners in and rediscover the characteristics that once made them an unstoppable force at their peak under Mourinho, at least he knows he can rely on his side's home form.
And Mata produced a performance which suggested he can rely on him too.
The Spanish playmaker has struggled to convince the Blues boss that he deserves a place in his starting side this season.
But he helped set up Chelsea's first two strikes and pulled the strings in his first start since being dropped following the 2-0 defeat at Newcastle a month ago.
If the final score looked comfortable, it was far from it for Chelsea.
Southampton went ahead before some had even taken their seats with a goal that had echoes of Manchester City's quick-fire opener against Tottenham seven days earlier.
And it represented a personal nightmare for Michael Essen on his return to Premier League football.
Essien hadn't started a league game for Chelsea in almost 19 months before yesterday.
And he certainly looked well off the pace when Cesar Azpilicueta's misplaced header fell his way seconds into the game.
Essien panicked and could only shin the ball wildly back towards his own goal, leaving John Terry wrong-footed and exposed and allowing Rodriguez to nip in and fire past Petr Cech after just 13 seconds.
Diving With their side one up, the travelling fans taunted Mourinho with "You're not Special any more". Chelsea weren't either.
Cahill headed wide and Oscar and Fernando Torres tested Artur Boruc but the visitors were the better side, knocking the ball around as if they were at St Mary's.
Essien's embarrassment continued when he was booked for diving and he was not surprisingly hooked at half-time, while Oscar limped off injured and was replaced by Frank Lampard just before the break.
Ba replaced Essien to join Torres up front, and the attacking change helped spark Chelsea into life.
Ba had a hand in the 55th-minute equaliser when he hit the post after Branislav Ivanovic knocked down Mata's corner but Cahill reacted quickest to nod the home side level.
To add injury to insult for Saints, Boruc hurt his hand and had to be subbed, with the keeper ruled out for six weeks.
On came Spanish rookie Paulo Gazzaniga for his first game for a year and his first act was to pick the ball out of the net.
Saints could only half clear a corner and when Mata swung the ball in again Terry flicked a brilliant header into the top corner.
Ba had a great chance to seal it soon after when he lashed wide when through on goal and Chelsea were almost punished when Dani Osvaldo's lob looped inches wide.
However, Ba had the final word with a fine finish after great work by Ramires and Mourinho celebrated by high-fiving his son. It showed his relief more than anything.