Fikayo Tomori has been absolutely brilliant this season, breaking into Chelsea’s first team and looking like one of the brightest young defensive prospects in the country.
He’s not without his flaws though, and one of those imperfections was actually at the root of Southampton’s opening goal on Boxing Day, a moment that really changed the game.
After Callum Hudson-Odoi had the ball nicked off him down the left with Emerson overlapping, Southampton were able to attack into the space left behind the two, on the side that Tomori was defending in the back three.
As Michael Obafemi raced towards the area, Tomori went towards him and tried to nick the ball. It was typically aggressive defending from Fikayo, who like our other centre backs prefers to meet the danger far from his goal and use his pace to bail himself out if he messes up.
Unfortunately, with cover around him so scarce it was the wrong call in this case. Obafemi took it round him and unleashed a shot into the top corner long before Tomori would ever have had a chance to get back to him.
It was an error, and one he will learn from as he gets more experienced.
You can see the vital moment in the image above.
