25 February 2025
Chelsea 4 Southampton 0
Despite their poor form this calendar year, somehow, Chelsea are still in the mix for that coveted top four spot in the Premier League. They welcomed Southampton to Stamford Bridge, whose hopes of safety are starting to resemble someone doing a water-touch bungee jump in rural India having been told they are not interested in knowing your weight at all.
Chelsea started in confident mood against the side rooted to the bottom of the table. Sancho was creating problems out wide and was drilling in some teasing low crosses. However, with no recognised striker, they were constantly lacking anyone busting a gut to get on the end of these balls. Palmer had an early effort from outside the box but it went well wide of the target.
Nobody can really fathom the drop off in form of the former Man City attacker. Maresca seems to be playing him out of position to accommodate injuries but, putting that to one side, his game just seems to be completely out of sync. Whenever he looked to shoot, you expect to see the net bulge, but now efforts are spraying all over the place.
Fernandez then played a perfectly-weighted pass in between the Southampton defence for Palmer to run onto. With only Ramsdale to beat, he shot first-time, but The Saints’ keeper made an important block to deny him. From the resulting corner, Tosin’s header in the middle dropped to the back post for Nkunku to scramble home to break the deadlock.
The visitors tried to find a way back into the game when Sulemana stood up a cross from the byline to find Onuachu in the middle. His header was clawed out by Jorgensen but The Blues were lucky to clear their lines. The keeper’s save put the ball back in the danger area but no Southampton players were there to convert, much to the delight of the home fans.
Sancho did well on the edge of the box and laid a pass into the path of Palmer. Just as a goal seemed certain, he struck it well wide of the far post with the goal at his mercy. There was a gasp from the Stamford Bridge faithful in disbelief that he had missed. Something is just not right with him at the moment but The Blues cannot afford to rest him.
Southampton were then the architects of their own downfall. They gave the ball away with a loose pass and Nkunku laid it off into the path of Neto. He drilled his shot past Ramsdale at the near post to double Chelsea’s lead. Even with just over half an hour of the game gone, this match seemed over and out of the grasp of the visitors.
Just before the break, Neto turned provider as he swung a free-kick into the box. Colwill rose to head home and at this point it looked like it was going to be a long evening for The Saints. Their defence is just so static during key moments of the game, there is no way you are going to be able to hold your own at this level. Southampton look way out of their depth.
After the interval, the hosts played a corner short to Fernandez. He clipped a cross into the box and picked out Nkunku but his header was tipped over the bar by Ramsdale. Moments later the Frenchman turned provider. He got to the byline before cutting it back to Palmer on the penalty spot. His first-time shot was more like a rugby conversion as it sailed high over the target.
Up and down the country Palmer’s current form is crippling peoples’ fantasy league teams. All too scared to take him out for fear it will be the week he bounces back with four goals and four assists. It could be a make or break moment for anyone with the minerals to get rid of the Chelsea attacker, no one can afford passengers at this point in the season.
Maresca opted to make some changes and brought the youngsters on at this stage. To be fair, even the most knowledgeable football fan would struggle to pick any of them out of a police line-up, let alone tell you what they did for a living having only seen their names. It makes you wonder whether the West London outfit is just an elaborate people-trafficking ring.
The hosts finally added a fourth when George cut the ball back from the byline. Cucurella was in acres of space in the middle and drilled his shot into the far corner to put the icing on the cake for Maresca’s side. You felt this scoreline could have been a lot more as The Saints had seemed to down tools mentally after the second goal went in.
Chelsea continued to push forward in the closing stages and could have added another as Fernandez fired off a shot from the edge of the box. There was plenty of power in the effort but it was a bit too close to Ramsdale as he beat it away from his goal. If it wasn’t for the former Arsenal keeper, Southampton’s goal difference would look like the temperatures in space.
It was a comfortable win for The Blues that should give them some confidence as they moved into fourth spot in the table. However, that could all change if Man City and Newcastle won their games the following day. As for Southampton, this Premier League campaign was looking like one to forget for The Saints’ fans and to just start planning next season’s battles against local rivals Pompey.
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