Thomas Tuchel warned Timo Werner he must keep improving after the Chelsea striker’s first Premier League goal since April helped seal a 3-1 win against 10-man Southampton on Saturday.
Werner saved Chelsea from a frustrating end to a difficult week when he netted six minutes from full-time at Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel’s side had been pegged back to 1-1 after James Ward-Prowse’s second-half penalty cancelled out Trevoh Chalobah’s early opener.
Ward-Prowse was sent off with 14 minutes left for a nasty lunge on Jorginho and Chelsea laid siege to the Southampton goal before Werner slotted home from Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross.
Ben Chilwell’s last-minute goal wrapped up the points as Chelsea moved top of the Premier League, two points ahead of second-placed Liverpool, who host Manchester City on Sunday.
“We are all relieved, him and me and the whole club. Every time he scores we have the feeling there is a VAR decision to take it away from him, there have been a lot of very narrow decisions,” Tuchel said.
It was a much-needed victory for Chelsea after successive defeats against City and Juventus.
After a troubled first season at Chelsea, it was a rare upbeat moment for Werner, whose relief was clear as he celebrated wildly after scoring and then smiled and joked with fans while conducting pitchside interviews.
The former RB Leipzig star has been forced to play second fiddle to Chelsea’s club-record signing Romelu Lukaku since the start of this season, sparking reports Tuchel might be willing to offload him.
