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Southampton captain Jack Stephens was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair as the Premier League’s bottom club were thrashed 5-1 by high-flying Chelsea.
Defender Stephens saw red in the 39th minute at St Mary’s, having tugged the curls of Cucurella during an inexplicable moment of madness while Saints were preparing to take a corner.
Chelsea already led 3-1 at that stage thanks to goals from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke after Southampton midfielder Joe Aribo briefly cancelled out Axel Disasi’s early opener.
Second-half finishes from Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho piled more misery on Russell Martin’s men.
Stephens’ ridiculous dismissal was the headline mistake of a catalogue of errors from the beleaguered hosts as they slipped seven points from safety following an 11th defeat of a dismal season.
Chelsea, who stretched their unbeaten run to six top-flight games, could easily have won by more as they hit the woodwork three times, in addition to squandering a host of chances.
Blues head coach Enzo Maresca had warned his players to expect their “toughest game” of the season in Hampshire before making seven changes following Sunday’s impressive 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Blues goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen made his Premier League debut as part of the squad rotation, while depleted Southampton were missing a host of key players through a combination of injury and suspension.
Jorgensen, a £20million summer arrival from Villarreal, was forced into a second-minute save to deny Aribo following Walker-Peters’ cross, albeit the latter was subsequently flagged offside.
Chelsea edged ahead just five minutes later. Captain Enzo Fernandez delivered a dangerous inswinging corner from the left and Disasi escaped the Saints defence to head home from a yard out.
Despite falling behind, Southampton’s start was relatively encouraging and they were rewarded with an 11th-minute leveller.
Walker-Peters again provided the creativity, easily beating Fernandez close to the left byline before delivering a low cross for Aribo to sweep home.
From that moment on, it was downhill for Martin’s team.
Chelsea were gifted back the lead in the 17th minute when an attempted pass from advanced Saints goalkeeper Joe Lumley to Walker-Peters was intercepted by Madueke, who slipped in Nkunku to slot into the unguarded net.
Fourth-choice Saints keeper Lumley, selected in the absence of Aaron Ramsdale and Gavin Bazunu and amid the poor form of Alex McCarthy, partially redeemed himself by turning a Palmer effort on to the right post.
Tosin Adarabioyo headed against the crossbar from the resulting corner before Madueke doubled the visitors’ lead in the 34th minute by cutting inside Ryan Manning to delightfully curl into the bottom left corner.
Southampton repeatedly invited pressure with their risky attempts to play out from defence and they suffered another self-inflicted setback just before the break.
After referee Tony Harrington was called to the pitch-side monitor by VAR, Stephens was dismissed for the second time this term following a foolish tangle with Cucurella in the Chelsea penalty area as James Bree waited to take the set-piece.
Adarabioyo lashed against the right post and Madueke was twice denied by Lumley as Chelsea sought to increase their advantage following the restart.
Southampton almost halved their deficit before Madueke’s opportunities when Jorgensen denied Mateus Fernandes with his feet.
But, following a brief delay caused by a pitch invader, Palmer extinguished Saints’ scant hopes of a fightback by tapping in his ninth goal of the season in the 76th minute after Nkunku did the hard work.
Travelling fans saluted a dominant victory by chanting ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back’ and singing the name of their manager in the closing stages.
Substitute Sancho increased the gloom among the home supporters three minutes from time, firing powerfully past Lumley at his near post to complete the rout.
