Thomas Tuchel says Chelsea star's future was on the line during Saints thrashing

Thomas Tuchel praised Timo Werner after Chelsea thrashed Southampton 6-0 and insisted the forward ‘needed’ to ‘make a statement’ and prove he remains an ‘important player’ at Stamford Bridge.

Werner scored twice in Chelsea’s impressive victory on the south coast as Thomas Tuchel’s side recovered from back-to-back defeats to blow the Saints away.

Chelsea were beaten 4-1 by west London rivals Brentford last weekend and suffered a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

But the European champions were back to their dazzling best against an overwhelmed Southampton side, with Marcos Alonso, Mason Mount and Kai Havertz also getting on the scoresheet.

Werner was handed only his 10th Premier League start at St Mary’s and justified his selection with a lively performance and a brace.

The German striker has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge in recent months and Tuchel insists the onus was on Werner to ‘make a statement’ against Southampton.

Asked whether £47.5m signing Werner showed his ability in the 6-0 thrashing, Tuchel said: ‘Of course.

‘It was his position, it was the players around him, the connection with Mason [Mount], Kai [Havertz[ and Mateo [Kovacic]. He loves to play and he has a connection with these players.

‘He was in a double striker position, the half left position, and it was against an opponent that we could imagine we’d find spaces in behind because they play a high attack.

‘So it was set out for him to deliver, honestly. Everything was there for him to deliver and make a statement that he has not given up, that he is still an important player of this club and this group. And he did.

‘It was necessary, very good and strong, but necessary.’

On Chelsea’s overall display, Tuchel added: ‘The performance changed, the commitment and the discipline.

‘This is how we want to play and we gave an answer finally because you could see it on the scoreboard. It reflects the performance today which was very good.

‘It is always a players’ game but we try to prepare them as well as possible. We are always happy for players to manage the game and they did.

‘You could see they were focused to play to the plan and we did it with concentration, commitment, hunger and of course with quality.’

Chelsea travel to Spain on Tuesday looking to overturn a 3-1 deficit against Real in the second leg of their European quarter-final before facing Crystal Palace at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final next Sunday.

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