“I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of good players in my time at Chelsea,” says Bertrand, who is on loan from Stamford Bridge until the end of the season. “The day I came to the club, when we were training, I had confidence in the team straight away. I knew that we could do good things.” The season may still be in its adolescence, but already that is looking like an understatement. As Southampton prepare for the game at Villa Park this evening they lie in a scarcely believable second place in the Premier League table. For Bertrand, the left-back signed to replace Luke Shaw in the summer, this is no surprise. As he puts it, this is a club with a “good base”, whose ideals match his.