Southampton 1-5 Chelsea: Five-star Blues continue their title challenge as Cole Palmer and Co run riot in Saints hammering

When your captain is red carded for hair-pulling, as Southampton‘s Jack Stephens was here for yanking on Marc Cucurella’s locks, you know your capacity for implosion is high.

Southampton beat themselves, from that dismissal to the clumsy ways in which the Premier League‘s bottom-dwellers carried on conceding to Chelsea. Take, for example, Christopher Nkunku’s goal which came after Noni Madueke stole possession following Joe Lumley’s pass.

Lumley is the Saints’ fourth-choice goalkeeper, with Aaron Ramsdale and Gavin Bazunu both injured and Alex McCarthy still overcoming a knee knock, but he was told to do his best impression of someone can play out of the back. Suffice to say, that was a mistake, as Madueke won the ball, set up Nkunku, and Chelsea secured a lead they would never lose.

Even the St Mary’s DJ was playing Naive by The Kooks at half-time, as if to prove a point. Worse still, this was Stephens’ second red of the season, so he will miss four matches this time, one more than the usual three as Southampton face a harsh winter.

Chelsea’s supporters treated this as a big party. By the end, they were singing Enzo Maresca’s name on repeat, and then came another chant: ‘We’ve got our Chelsea back.’

Maresca said: ‘It was a very good feeling. We work every day to keep them happy. They can see Chelsea is back and this is an important thing.’ 

Chelsea continued their charge up the Premier League table with a five-star showing against Southampton

Cole Palmer scored Chelsea’s fourth goal as the Blues claimed a dominant win on the south coast

Jack Stephens was sent off for yanking Marc Cucurella by the hair late in the second half

Maresca made seven changes for this trip, including handing a first Premier League start to Filip Jorgensen, the 22-year-old summer signing who produced the odd super save.

It took Chelsea seven minutes to take the lead as Enzo Fernandez’s corner was nodded in easily by Axel Disasi with Lumley nowhere near. It became 1-1 after 11 minutes when Fernandez was weakly turned in the box by Kyle Walker-Peters, who cut the ball back for Joe Aribo to tap in.

Chelsea regained their lead in the 17th minute as Lumley played into their pressing trap, with Madueke stealing possession before assisting Nkunku.

Tosin Adarabioyo so nearly got in on the goals – he struck the woodwork twice here – but it became 3-1 after 34 minutes when Madueke charged at Ryan Manning, a simple shimmy to the left allowing him enough room to find the far corner.

Southampton’s night worsened before half-time when the cameras caught Stephens grabbing a handful of Cucurella’s hair. Referee Tony Harrington produced a straight red after being sent to his pitch-side monitor by VAR Matt Donohue.

Madueke got one goal but could, and possibly should, have scored five. Instead it was Palmer who bagged Chelsea’s fourth in the 76th minute via a tap-in. Substitute Jadon Sancho then secured their fifth after 87 minutes as St Mary’s emptied in embarrassment.