Chelsea’s excellent run continued on Wednesday night when they hammered ten-man Southampton 5-1 at St. Mary’s.
Enzo Maresca was happy to rotate on the south coast with seven Blues players leaving the starting line-up for Sunday’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa. Midweek regular Axel Disasi gave the visitors an early lead when he headed Enzo Fernández’s corner at the near post.
Southampton were without their brightest stars for the visit of Chelsea, but they were positive from the start and could not be deterred by the Blues’ opener. Joe Aribo benefited from an excellent run from Kyle Walker-Peters to quickly restore parity, but that was as good as it got for Russell Martin’s side.
The Saints were hit by Jack Stephens’ stupid red card for a hair-pull on Marc Cucurella, but they were already 3-1 down at the time. Once again, Southampton were their own worst enemies as build-up errors marred the first half. Chelsea took one back to take the lead through Christopher Nkunku before Noni Madueke rounded off a flowing move from the Blues for the third.
Southampton produced an attacking effort despite the man disadvantage, but in reality Chelsea should have made it ten when they added a fourth through Cole Palmer. Although Lumley struggled with the ball at his feet, he was generally excellent from a shot-stopping perspective to frustrate the Blues, but there was little he could do to prevent the visitors from adding a fifth in the final stages.
Jadon Sancho scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea to complete an excellent night for Maresca’s side, with the Blues now just seven points behind league leaders Liverpool after their draw in Newcastle.
|
player |
Valuation |
|---|---|
|
GC: 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 wednesday |
8.0/10 |
|
CM: Matthew 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
|
player |
Valuation |
|---|---|
|
GC: Philip Jorgensen |
7.7/10 |
|
RB: bad flight |
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 |
|
MR: You Maduek |
8.7/10 |
|
A.M.: 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.
