Chelsea In Crisis?  (Sky Sports)

Chelsea's wretched start to the season descended into crisis as they suffered their fourth Premier League defeat of the campaign at home to Southampton on Saturday Night Football.

Willian gave Chelsea an early lead with his fourth goal in as many games, but Southampton hit back through Steven Davis, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle to stun Jose Mourinho's men.

Here, we look at some of the top talking points from an incident-packed encounter at Stamford Bridge…

Chelsea in crisis?

Chelsea's dismal form hit a new low with this shambolic defeat. Remarkably, this is now their worst start to a season in 37 years, when they were relegated from the old First Division. It leaves them with just eight points from their opening eight games, and the defending champions are now 10 points behind Manchester City and only two places above the drop zone.

Stamford Bridge used to be a fortress under Mourinho but Southampton exploited their weaknesses with ruthless efficiency to claim a fully deserved victory. This was the first time that Mourinho's Chelsea have ever conceded more than twice in a Premier League home game, and there are issues piling up all over the field.

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp feels the signs are deeply worrying. "You look at that team, it's a shadow of what it was last year," he said. "He's changing the team and rotating all the time. He's not sure what his best team is any more. The beauty of Chelsea last year was that you knew their best XI. Now everything there doing seems to be wrong."

So is Mourinho losing the dressing room? Redknapp fears the worst. "If those players are behind Jose Mourinho, they're doing a bad job of showing it," he said. "There wasn't a tackle made, they never got close to anybody. It was a really poor performance. You can blame it on a lack of confidence but to me those are very worrying signs.

"I've been inside modern-day dressing rooms and I can see sometimes that the players aren't really at it for their manager. It sounds wrong, but it's true. I've felt it and you can see it. Certain players will be getting into cliques. You've got different languages in the dressing room and one or two will be saying he's lost it."

Pressure mounts on Mourinho

When Mourinho lifted the Premier League trophy in May, it seems inconceivable that he might find himself under such intense pressure just four months later. Chelsea's decline has been unprecedented, and their under-fire manager addressed the situation in a remarkable post-match interview with Sky Sports.

He started by railing against the officials for failing to award Chelsea a penalty when Radamel Falcao was adjudged to have dived over Saints goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the second half. "The referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea," he said. "The result 1-1 there is a huge penalty and, once more, we don't get it. A penalty is a crucial moment in the game with the scores at 1-1."

It was a contentious decision, but Southampton were denied two clearer penalties in the first half. Branislav Ivanovic escaped punishment after pulling back Virgil van Dijk at a set piece, and Ramires appeared to fell Sadio Mane a little later. "If he doesn't give them the first one you would expect him to give them the second one," said Gus Poyet in the Sky Sports studio. "It's a definite penalty."

Mourinho admitted his players "collapsed" and said they are "unbelievably down", and he went on to address his future. "I want to make it clear: one, I don't run away," he said. "Two, if the club want to sack me, they have to sack me because I am not running away from my responsibilities, from my team and from my conviction.

"Third, even more important that the first and the second, I think this is a crucial moment in the history of this club. Do you know why? Because if the club sacks me, they sack the best manager that this club has had."

Matic's withdrawal

Nothing encapsulated Mourinho's recent decision-making like his treatment of Nemanja Matic in this game. The Serb became the latest senior player to be benched when he was dropped against Porto, and against Southampton he suffered the indignity of being substituted just 28 minutes into the second half after replacing Ramires at the break.

"It's like Jose Mourinho's head is in the washing machine at the moment," said Redknapp. "He's making so many rash decisions. You could see that [Matic's] attitude was, 'I don't know, I'm not really up for this'. Then he takes him off again. That's one of the most humiliating things that can happen to a footballer. I've only seen it happen two or three times."

Redknapp feels Mourinho's treatment of the likes of Matic and Terry is contributing to their chaotic performances. "Taking his captain John Terry off at half-time against Manchester City - that doesn't help. Sub-subbing Nemanja Matic when you're 3-1 down - that doesn't help.

"Blaming the players like he is all the time is not what he has done in previous years. He's always supported his players in the past but at the moment he's throwing grenades everywhere." Mourinho insisted his intention was not to humiliate Matic in his post-match press conference, but it felt like a decision which could damage what already looks like a strained relationship.

Terry toils in Chelsea's woeful defence

Terry led Chelsea out in a Premier League game for the first time since their 3-1 defeat to Everton. But after a torrid afternoon up against Southampton's pacey and muscular attack, he could be excused for wondering whether he would have been better off on the bench.

Terry's lack of confidence was evident throughout. His usual pass completion rate of around 90 per cent fell to 76 per cent, and he will not enjoy replays of Southampton's second goal as Mane turned him with ease before finishing beyond Asmir Begovic.

The 34-year-old was not the only Chelsea defender to struggle. Branislav Ivanovic's woeful start to the season continued at right-back, and Gary Cahill also endured a nightmarish evening. The England man was held off too easily by Graziano Pelle for Southampton's opener, and he also lost possession in the build up to Mane's goal.

Chelsea were desperately ineffective in attack once again, but their defensive implosion is more alarming. Mourinho's teams are famed for their solidity, but they have now conceded 17 goals in the Premier League this season - the same number as relegation-threatened Sunderland. Southampton cut through them at will in the second half, and Ronaldo Koeman's side could have easily added to their tally.

Outstanding Southampton

Chelsea's plight will dominate the fallout of this game, but Southampton's performance deserves considerable acclaim. "We've got to congratulate Southampton," said Redknapp. "It was a brilliant performance from their point of view. I thought they got it right tactically. We said before the game that Chelsea had to be careful of Mane, Tadic and Pelle."

Koeman was understandably delighted. "We totally deserved the three points today," he told Sky Sports. "We have the experience now, it happened the same last year as we went 1-0 down very early. But we had good organisation and close to half time we were the better team. The difference was how we came out the dressing room, because that was impressive."

Having only won one of their opening six Premier League games of the season, the south coast side appear to have turned a corner. This victory followed a 3-1 win over Swansea last week, and they have now climbed up to ninth into the table.

As well as counter-attacking with devastating effect and having 18 shots on goal to Chelsea's 10, Southampton worked tirelessly when they didn't have the ball. Indeed, Premier League tracking data showed they collectively ran 110.7km compared to Chelsea's 107.9km.