Jose says no swoop for new strikers as Saints swept aside

Southampton 0 Chelsea 3

So comfortable were Chelsea it left Jose Mourinho suggesting he will not need to spend big in the January transfer window after all.

Having gone an entire year in 2013 without a striker scoring an away goal in the Premier League — a shocking statistic that prompted calls for yet more spending in 2014 — the new year has underlined a belief that Mourinho is, in fact, making steady progress in his second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge.

The Special One has been surpassingly open and public in his frustration with a forward line that has failed to kill off opponents on so many occasions this season; but finally it appears things have begun to change.

Samuel Eto’o sparked into life to beat Liverpool at Stamford Bridge at the weekend while at St Mary’s it was Torres who broke his duck and completed a happy festive period in which Chelsea have also drawn at Arsenal and beaten Swansea to sit third in the table, only two points behind the leaders.

After the match Mourinho once again reiterated his opinion, surely tactical rather than honestly held, that his team are not yet title contenders; but he also seems happy to stick largely with the squad at his disposal rather than risk owner Roman Abramovich’s millions on January transfer targets that would disrupt his team’s progress.

“We have a plan not for a year, but for a few years,” he said. “We are not desperate to spend and spend, we have players to develop, we have players who are in the last years of their career and we do things step by step.

“We are building a team to be like the Chelsea which was strong in the last decade; so if somebody is expecting us to be in the market in January and be kings, for sure Chelsea is not that club.

“Also the strikers’ market is a very strange market. Normally it’s a strange market in the summer so imagine how strange it is in the winter! So we are saying we are out of the market in relation to strikers; and what we want is the team to improve and our strikers to improve together with the team.”

There were certainly signs of that improvement at Southampton as Chelsea started quickly, creating three opportunities for Torres within the opening 10 minutes and they did well to survive a brief Southampton revival before taking charge of the match again in the second half.

With both Branislav Ivanovic and Frank Lampard out injured (possibly until the end of January) Mourinho had made six changes to his starting 11. But it was the changes he made after 53 minutes that really made the difference as Juan Mata was replaced by Oscar while Willian came on for Andre Schurrle.

Oscar’s first contribution was controversial — racing on to a perfect through-ball from Eden Hazard before strangely choosing to dive as he rounded goalkeeper Kelvin Davis; earning himself a yellow card rather than a penalty.

“I think the yellow card was fair,” said Mourinho, who last week criticised Luis Suarez for simulation and realised a different opinion this week would open him up to accusations of hypocrisy.

Thankfully, however, the incident did not prove a turning point; because Oscar soon made amends when his deflected cross hit the far post and Torres responded smartly to head home the rebound after 60 minutes.

Willian’s excellent low finish, from another Oscar pass, made it 2-0 and Chelsea, by now dominant, finished the game with a third from Oscar himself, racing through to finish smartly with only eight minutes to go.

As for Southampton, who have only won once in the last nine matches, manager Mauricio Pocchetino knocked back suggestions he could sell striker Rickie Lambert to West Ham, Adam Lallana to Manchester United and Luke Shaw to Chelsea, claiming instead his focus was on getting injured players fit.

“When the window is open anything can happen and if we have to react to certain things, if somebody wants to leave, then probably we have to bring somebody in,” he said.

SOUTHAMPTON: K. Davis 7, Chambers 7, Fonte 6, Lovren 6, Shaw 6 (Clyne 46; 5), Cork 6 (Lambert 61; 6), Schneiderlin 6, S. Davis 6 (Ward-Prowse 76; 6), Lallana 6, Rodriguez 6, Ramírez 7.

CHELSEA: Cech 7; Azpilicueta 8, Cahill 6, Terry 6, Cole 7; Mikel 6, Ramires 6; Schurrle 4 (Willian 53; 7), Mata 5 (Oscar 53; 8), Hazard 7 (Essien 85); Torres.

Referee: Martin Atkinson.