Coach Enzo Maresca has often made many changes to Chelsea's midweek matches this season.
Despite playing in the Premier League, the Italian coach still recklessly made 7 substitutions compared to the match at the weekend. Despite that, The Blues brought a sublime match against Southampton.
In the 7th minute, Axel Disasi headed the ball to open the scoring for Chelsea from Enzo Fernandez's corner kick. But just a few minutes later, from an assist from Kyle Walker-Peters, Joe Aribo scored the equalizer for the home team.
However, defensive mistakes once again prevented The Saints from maintaining a positive start. Noni Madueke blocked Joe Lumley's wrong pass before pushing the ball for Christopher Nkunku to score to increase the score to 2-1. From there, they started to play steadily and overwhelm their opponents. In the 34th minute, Madueke scored after a skillful move. The difficulties piled up when Jack Stephens grabbed his hair and pulled Marc Cucurella down, receiving a direct red card from the referee in the 39th minute.
The next minutes were extremely difficult for Southampton. Goalkeeper Lumley made many consecutive saves to keep the score at 1-3 when entering the last 20 minutes of the match.
After many efforts, in the 76th minute, Nkunku defeated Lumley in a one-on-one, before Cole Palmer easily rushed in to break the deadlock. In the 87th minute, Jadon Sancho dribbled confidently and finished into a narrow corner, sealing a 5-1 victory for The Blues.
This result helps them continue to maintain second place in the table with 28 points, 7 points ahead of Arsenal in terms of goal difference and behind Liverpool.
