Sancho, Palmer score as Chelsea ease past Saints

Chelsea‘s impressive 5-1 win at bottom club Southampton closed the gap to leaders Liverpool in the Premier League on Wednesday, with the home side having Jack Stephens sent off before half time for a hair-pull on Marc Cucurella.

Chelsea took the lead in the seventh minute through an Axel Disasi header but Joe Aribo drew Southampton level four minutes later before a goalkeeping howler allowed Christopher Nkunku in to put the visitors back ahead within six minutes.

Noni Madueke extended Chelsea’s lead 11 minutes from the break and despite the red card for Stephens, the visitors had to wait until the 76th minute before Cole Palmer added a fourth and three minutes from time Jadon Sancho rounded off the win.

Chelsea went in front when Diasi got ahead of the keeper from a corner whipped into the near post to power a header to the net.

The home side were quick to equalise, with Kyle Walker-Peters laying the ball back from the byline and Aribo was there to knock it home.

All Southampton’s hard work was undone six minutes later, as once again this season they paid the price for their insistence on playing out from the back.

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Keeper Joe Lumley was well outside his own area when he played a poor pass out to midfield. It was nicked by Chelsea’s Madueke and he passed to Nkunku to score into the empty goal.

Chelsea took control when Joao Felix passed to Madueke out wide on the edge of the area who cut inside before firing his shot into the far bottom corner.

Southampton’s struggles were compounded by Stephens’ moment of madness when he pulled Cucurella’s hair at a corner kick, with the defender shown the red card six minutes from the break.

Chelsea began the second half where they left off, creating chance after chance. The unmarked Felix sent a header wide of the post and Tosin Adarabioyo smashed a shot off the upright from close range.

They finally found a fourth goal when Nkunku’s effort under pressure would probably have rolled over the line, but Palmer took no chances and tapped the ball in, with the Chelsea fans chanting their manager Enzo Maresca’s name as they celebrated.

“The results, for sure, help us a lot to calm down noise around the club. It’s a good feeling to see the fans happy,” Maresca told reporters.

The home fans were already heading for the exits when Sancho collected a pass from Malo Gusto and rifled his strike past Lumley to wrap up Chelsea’s third successive league win.

The Southampton fans still in the stands greeted the final whistle with boos.

“I understand that people want their team to win and when they see such a big scoreline and a couple of goals we concede, I understand it,” Southampton manager Russell Martin said.