Southampton 0-3 Chelsea: Saints condemned to third straight league defeat by Hazard and co

Southampton were condemned to a comprehensive 3-0 defeat by Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon as they recorded a third-straight league defeat.

Goals from the red-hot Eden Hazard, Ross Barkley and Alvaro Morata saw the Blues triumph on the South-Coast, whilst Southampton were left to rue missed chances and poor defending again; worrying traits that have plagued the team from much of the last year.

Some surprise inclusions came from Mark Hughes in his starting line-up for the game. All of Manolo Gabbiadini, Jan Bednarek and Maya Yoshida kept their places from the Carabao Cup win at Everton in midweek as the team set-up in a 5-2-1-2 system.

The first 15 minutes of the contest perhaps looked a bit ominous for the home crowd at St Mary’s. Wave after wave of Chelsea attacks came and were eventually thwarted by the five-man defence marshalling their forwards.

However, Saints would then build a period of pressure of their own and would create a golden opportunity to take the lead.

Ryan Bertrand sped down the left-flank and put in a wonderful cross to the back post for Danny Ings to meet on the volley, but he couldn’t keep his effort down when just six yards out.

Misses like those are often costly against top-six sides, and so it would prove when Chelsea took the lead. Wesley Hoedt was found out of position and left a huge gap to be exploited by Eden Hazard, who finished coolly when put through by Ross Barkley.

That goal seemed to kill the growing enthusiasm within the stadium and Maurizio Sarri’s side saw

More from Saints Marching

• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 2: Arrivals
• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
• It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
• Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

their lead out with relative ease until half-time. With nothing to lose in the match now, surely Hughes and his side had to go for broke in the second-half?

A signal of intent from Mark Hughes came with his first substitution at half-time. Centre-Back Jan Bednarek was sacrificed for Oriol Romeu to provide an additional body going forward.

Saints were quick to click into gear as the second period began too, and they would create another great opening. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg picked out Ryan Bertrand at the back post and – like Ings earlier in the game – he couldn’t find the target after connecting well with a volley.

Once again, this key miss would be costly. Chelsea doubled their advantage after 57 minutes as Olivier Giroud turned a set-piece delivery across goal in acrobatic fashion to leave Ross Barkley with a tap in.

It looked as though the game was over already as Chelsea controlled the flow of the match, but a spark of life in the last 10 minutes gave something to shout about.

Nathan Redmond forced a brilliant tip over from Kepa with a strong effort from distance, and then Alex McCarthy was called into action to deny Alvaro Morata one-on-one.

However, the Spaniard wouldn’t be denied his goal and he killed the game off completely in injury time when he raced onto a Hazard through ball and dinked a finish into the back of the net.

The next league clash for Saints against high-flying Bournemouth now becomes even more vital to get some points on the board.