Once again the 3-4-3 shape worked a treat with Southampton limited to a single shot on target, and that from a dead-ball situation.

David Luiz, positioned in the middle of the back three, was quick to praise his teammates further up the pitch for the fact we limited the Saints to so few chances at a ground no team finds it easy to play at.

‘It’s everybody, it’s not just the three at the back that don’t concede goals, it’s the mentality of the team when you don’t have the ball,’ the Brazilian explained.

‘The first defender is Diego and after that everybody defends. Diego, Hazard, Pedro, Willian, Oscar, Michy – it doesn’t matter who plays, they are doing great on the defensive side and it’s much easier for us defenders.

‘It was a difficult game like every time you come here to play against Southampton. They play amazing football with a great philosophy, but I think we did an intelligent game and waited for the exact moment to kill the game. It was a very important win for our ambitions.’

David Luiz thinks that is to challenge for the title but he is keen to stress it is early days yet. Currently, with 10 games played, one point separates the top four. The defender doesn’t envisage that gap changing any time soon.

‘It will be like this until the end. It’s just the beginning. We need to keep our feet on the floor and keep working hard with humility, just this.

‘We know the Premier League is not easy. When you start the game nobody knows who will win, but we are trying our best every single match to improve our level.

‘We train hard every day. Mr Conte works a lot with us and tries to give a lot of information to us to prepare the plan for the games in the best way. It’s important to continue this way.

‘The Premier League is never easy and if you sleep here one minute you start to lose, and then you can lose one, two or three matches. You need to be awake all the time.’

- David Luiz also spoke to Chelsea TV after the game and that video is available to view for free above...