4 December 2024
Southampton 1 Chelsea 5
Bottom of the table Southampton welcomed Chelsea to St Mary’s. Maresca’s side had made a good start to the season and were looking like genuine top four contenders. The Blues’ manager recently said that this team could dominate the Premier League for a decade, but not this season. Bold claims from the former Leicester City manager.
The standout player for The Saints this season has been Tyler Dibling. As soon as news broke that he was out injured, you almost felt the hope amongst Southampton fans evaporate like the morning mist. This could be a big ask of Russell Martin’s side to try and get any points from this encounter, they would need Chelsea to have a serious off-day.
The Blues started in confident mood and looked to put the hosts under the cosh. Fernandez whipped a corner into the box and Disasi headed home to give the visitors an early lead. The Saints’ defenders complained about a foul in the build-up but the referee was not interested. The goal had seriously dented the mindsets of the home faithful. It was like a library.
One thing you can often guarantee with this Chelsea team, as good as they may look, they are more than capable of imploding. Fernandez, the hero with the assist from earlier in this story, was the culprit for this one. His poor tackling in the box allowed a cross played into Aribo, who swept home to draw Southampton level.
Maresca’s side had held onto their lead for all of four minutes. It was a superb response from Martin’s team, showing some of the passion that led to them running Liverpool so close recently. St Mary’s was bouncing now as they looked to cheer their side onto victory. It also showed that this Chelsea defence was there for the taking if you press it high enough up the park.
Then came a real moment of madness. Southampton, bottom of the Premier League table, only won one game all season. Yes, that’s them. In all their wisdom they try to play out from the back. Lumley plays it straight to Madueke, who unselfishly squares it to Nkunku around the keeper. He slots into an empty net to give the visitors the lead once again.
Chelsea looked to turn the screw at this stage and Palmer went racing through on goal. He looked to drill a shot into the bottom corner but the keeper managed to get a palm to it, knocking it onto the side of the post, at the expense of a corner. He picked out Tosin with his cross but the centre-half watched his header come back off the crossbar.
Felix then played the ball to Madueke, wide in the penalty area. He was given too much space and cut onto his stronger left foot. He drilled a shot through a sea of players and into the far corner. At this point of the game, Chelsea looked like scoring every time they came forward. It was hard to see any way back into this game for The Saints.
If Southampton’s back line had defended some of the most well-known ancient cities, you probably would never have heard of them. Mainly because they would have been overrun and conquered before you could say ‘Do you speak Italian?’ At this rate they are going to have goalkeepers with PTSD like ex-military servicemen. Every time they close their eyes, they can just see shots coming at them.
Southampton tried to fashion some chances but they really lack the creativity in the final third. As they waited for a corner to come in, Cucurella went to ground holding his head. The replay showed that Stephens had pulled his Sideshow Bob like locks. VAR reviewed it and the referee had no choice but to give The Saints’ defender his marching orders.
Maresca’s side were just opening up the hosts at will now. They forced another corner and it dropped to Tosin unmarked on the far post. He took one touch to control it, before drilling a shot towards the Southampton goal. It had the keeper beaten but cracked against the inside of the post and came back out into play.
Martin’s side almost found an unlikely goal when The Saints piled forward. Aribo found space in the box and cut the ball back to Fernandes. With the goal gaping, he looked to slot it past Sanchez but the keeper made a great save to deny the Southampton midfielder. That could have put the cat amongst the pigeons for the final stages.
It was not to be and The Blues came forward again. Fernandez picked out Nkunku in the middle. As he, the defender and keeper all squared up the ball broke free to Palmer. All he had to do was to roll the ball into an empty net. It gave Chelsea their fourth and the safe knowledge that the points were theirs. There was no danger of a dramatic comeback from the ten men.
Gusto made a run towards goal before feeding the ball to Sancho. He shifted it onto his right foot and unleashed a shot past The Saints’ keeper to put the icing on the cake. The scoreline was a fair one and really shows the gap between this team and a lot of the Premier League. If Martin can keep this side safe, he should be mentioned in the New Years’ Honours List.
Chelsea moved to second in the table with victory, above rivals Arsenal on goal difference. Southampton are seven points from safety and if they are not careful, they will sink quicker than the Titanic. We are now fourteen games into the season and The Saints simply have not won enough points. They are the architects of their downfall all too often, something needs to change.
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