Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea's win at Southampton won't have any bearing on Real Madrid clash

As Thomas Tuchel was setting off to leave the south coast on Saturday, it was put to Chelsea’s manager that he wouldn’t need to gorge on chocolate that evening.

‘Good for my diet,’ he responded and off he went with a smile, a little healthier and a lot happier than 24 hours earlier, when he had spoken about snacking his way through miserable re-runs of Wednesday’s defeat against Real Madrid.

The world looks a little brighter in those parts today, because there will always be something restorative about 6-0 wins.

What Chelsea did to Southampton was quite brilliant, and much-needed too if an improved mood is the first step to saving their Champions League campaign on Tuesday. But Tuchel is a realist.

Trouncing a Southampton team with little to play for is somewhat different from reversing a 3-1 deficit at the Bernabeu, as he well knows. So from that point of view, and that of a Premier League table in which Chelsea are unlikely to climb or fall from third, how much can one thumping win change after two painful defeats?

For that reason, his position on the prospects of defending their European crown hasn’t shifted from his downbeat assessments from midweek.

‘The result and performance (at Southampton) is good because I am sure that lifts everyone’s spirits,’ Tuchel said. ‘But the task is huge. Let’s be honest. Everything is possible in football, but let’s be realistic — it is still the Bernabeu and an opponent very different from today. But it is the best way to prepare.’

Hard to argue with any of that, particularly the latter around preparation. There has been a sense that the wider issues surrounding Chelsea and their ownership would eventually leech into their playing results, and that seemed to come with those poor losses against Brentford and Madrid. Given they have an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Sunday, the need to slap themselves awake was urgent.

Against Southampton, they had multiple reasons to be delighted, spanning from a defence that limited Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side to one shot on goal, to an attack that created so much they ought to have scored nine.

Key among the personnel was Mason Mount, who was again unplayable in creating the first for Marcos Alonso and striking the second and fifth for himself. Less familiar was the brilliant performance from Timo Werner, that maligned soul who has not done enough since joining for almost £50million two years ago.

He scored twice for his first league goals since October and hit the frame three further times, one of which rebounded for Kai Havertz to finish. It was a timely reminder of what the fuss was once about.

Tuchel was pleased but candid in his assessment of how much Werner still needs to do. ‘He took the chance and he made his point,’ Tuchel said. ‘These are the types of performances strikers need and we need from the strikers.

‘At some point there are no words. You have to help yourself. If you sign up for Chelsea or a top club you have to live up to it and accept the pressure.

‘He still needs to adapt to the physicality of the league and it is a process. This was a big step in the right direction.’

After their heaviest loss of the season and a woeful performance, Southampton’s Che Adams said: ‘We’ve got more points than we got last year and we’ve still got more games to come so we have to fight.’