Chelsea's excellent run continued on Wednesday night as they thumped ten-man Southampton 5-1 at St. Mary's
Enzo Maresca was happy to rotate on the south coast with seven Blues players dropping out of the XI from Sunday's 3-0 victory over Aston Villa. One of the usual midweek participants, Axel Disasi, handed the visitors an early lead as he headed home Enzo Fernandez's inswinging corner at the near post.
Southampton were without their brightest stars for Chelsea's visit, but they were positive early on and failed to be deterred by the Blues' early goal. Joe Aribo benefitted from an excellent Kyle Walker-Peters sequence to quickly restore parity, but that was as good as it got for Russell Martin's side.
The Saints were hamstrung by Jack Stephens' stupid red card for a hair pull on Marc Cucurella, but they were already 3-1 down by that point. Once again, Southampton were their own worst enemies as build-up errors littered their first-half. Chelsea capitalised on one to retake the lead through Christopher Nkunku before Noni Madueke rounded off a flowing Blues move for their third.
Southampton offered attacking endeavour despite their man disadvantage but, in truth, Chelsea should've scored ten by the time they added a fourth through Cole Palmer. While Lumley struggled with the ball at his feet, he was generally superb from a shot-stopping perspective to frustrate the Blues, but their was little he could do to prevent the visitors from adding a fifth in the closing stages.
Jadon Sancho scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea to round off an excellent night for Maresca's side, with the Blues now just seven points adrift of league leaders Liverpool after their draw at Newcastle.
Southampton player ratings (5-3-2)
Player | Rating |
|---|---|
GK: Joe Lumley | 5.3/10 |
RWB: James Bree | 5.1/10 |
CB: Nathan Wood | 5.2/10 |
CB: Jack Stephens | 4.4/10 |
CB: Kyle Walker-Peters | 5.8/10 |
LWB: Ryan Manning | 6.8/10 |
CM: Ryan Fraser | 6.1/10 |
CM: Joe Aribo | 8.0/10 |
CM: Mateus Fernandes | 6.9/10 |
ST: Adam Armstrong | 6.1/10 |
ST: Cameron Archer | 6.1/10 |
SUB: Kamaldeen Sulemana (62' for Fraser) | 6.0/10 |
SUB: Ben Brereton Diaz (62' for Armstrong) | 6.3/10 |
SUB: Yukinari Sagawara (73' for Archer) | 6.2/10 |
SUB: Ronnie Edwards (79' for Bree) | 6.0/10 |
SUB: Charlie Taylor (79' for ) | 6.1/10 |
Subs not used: Alex McCarthy (GK), Maxwell Cornet, Samuel Amo-Ameyaw, Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh
Chelsea player ratings (4-2-3-1)
Player | Rating |
|---|---|
GK: Filip Jorgensen | 7.7/10 |
RB: Malo Gusto | 8.6/10 |
CB: Axel Disasi | 8.1/10 |
CB: Tosin Adarabioyo | 7.9/10 |
LB: Marc Cucurella | 6.8/10 |
DM: Moises Caicedo | 7.4/10 |
DM: Enzo Fernandez | 7.9/10 |
RM: Noni Madueke | 8.7/10 |
AM: Cole Palmer | 8.0/10 |
LM: Joao Felix | 8.2/10 |
ST: Christopher Nkunku | 8.5/10 |
SUB: Jadon Sancho (72' for Madueke) | 7.3/10 |
SUB: Renato Veiga (79' for Cucurella) | 6.0/10 |
SUB: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (79' for Palmer) | 6.3/10 |
Subs not used: Robert Sanchez (GK), Benoit Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Pedro Neto, Nicolas Jackson, Romeo Lavia.
Player of the match - Noni Madueke (Chelsea)
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