Chelsea increased their lead at the top of the Premier League table to seven points with a 4-2 victory over Southampton on Tuesday.
Eden Hazard opened the scoring in the fifth minute, firing the ball into the bottom corner after some excellent hold-up play from Diego Costa. Southampton were level midway through the first half, Oriol Romeu tapping home from close-range after Manolo Gabbiadini’s shot was saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Gary Cahill, however, restored Antonio Conte’s side’s lead on the stroke of half-time and Costa added two more after the interval. Former Chelsea full-back Ryan Bertrand headed home a consolation in stoppage time for the Saints.
#1 Diego Costa ends goal drought at the perfect time
N’Golo Kante was crowned PFA Player of the Year on Sunday, with 2015 winner Hazard finishing as runner-up. Fellow nominees Alexis Sanchez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane have all enjoyed fine seasons for their respective clubs, but it was difficult to argue with the voters’ choice.
At the halfway stage of the campaign, Costa looked to have as good a chance as anyone of receiving the honour. A return of 15 goals in his first 20 Premier League appearances played a massive part in Chelsea’s rise to the top of the table, but reports of a big-money move to the Chinese Super League seemed to throw him off course around the turn of the year.
After finding the net in a 2-0 win against Hull City in January, Costa failed to score in his next four outings in all competitions; he then struck in consecutive games against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Swansea City and West Ham United, before going seven matches without a goal prior to Tuesday’s clash with Southampton.
When Costa sloppily ceded possession twice in the early stages, it looked like things were going to continue in the same vein. The striker kept plugging away, though, and improved as the game wore on. His first decisive contribution came in the form of an assist for Hazard’s opener, as the former Atletico Madrid man impressed with his combination play throughout the first half.
Costa then got in on the act in the second 45 minutes, first heading past Fraser Forster to make it 3-1, then slotting the ball into the corner after a terrific team move for the fourth. The 28-year-old has rediscovered his scoring touch at just the right time.
#2 Southampton a little blunt in the final third
Chelsea may have taken the lead, but Southampton dominated for large chunks of the first half and then came on strong again after Costa had doubled the home side’s advantage in the 53rd minute. Despite their neat interplay and patient build-up, though, the visitors to Stamford Bridge struggled to test Courtois as much as they ought to have done.
Scoring two goals is no mean feat at this ground, of course, but it was hard to shake the feeling that Southampton could have turned their considerable pressure into something far more tangible.
Claude Puel’s men saw 52 percent of the ball throughout the game but produced just a couple of shots on target in each half. Sofiane Boufal possesses plenty of trickery yet was guilty of holding on to possession for far too long, while Dusan Tadic’s poor form continued as he struggled to have an influence on proceedings.
Despite shipping four here, Southampton’s defensive record is the 10th best in the top tier. By contrast, only Watford, Stoke City, Hull, Burnley, Middlesbrough and Sunderland have scored fewer goals than the south coast side this season.
#3 Chelsea’s defensive shakiness on show once more
After switching to a three-man backline in the second half of the 3-0 loss to Arsenal in September, Chelsea did not concede a goal for 601 minutes of Premier League action. At one point, they went almost five hours without giving up so much as a shot on target.
Fast forward a few months, however, and the Blues are altogether more vulnerable at the back. Romeu and Bertrand’s efforts here mean they have now gone 11 top-flight encounters without a clean sheet – the longest such run in the division – with their last shutout coming in the aforementioned triumph over Hull City on January 22.
There were plenty of nervous moments in defence on Wednesday, and Southampton could easily have scored their second goal much earlier had they shown a greater clinical edge in and around the penalty area. Chelsea looked particularly vulnerable when defending set-pieces, while even the usually imperious Kante – who was booked for a horribly mistimed tackle on James Ward-Prowse – struggled to prevent Southampton’s forward forays in open play.
In the end, it did not matter, but Chelsea’s inability to keep clean sheets will be a concern to Conte and is something he may look to address in the transfer window this summer.
#4 Romeu will be a man in demand this summer
Romeu was an unlikely scorer against his former club, having scored only once in his previous 79 Premier League appearances. The defensive midfielder is not in the side to provide goals, though, and Romeu has certainly contributed in other areas this campaign.
Not many teams employing three men in midfield have been able to take advantage of their numerical superiority in the engine room against Chelsea, largely because of Kante’s extraordinary work rate. Yet Southampton succeeded in moving the ball around well in the centre of the park, with Romeu often the man given time and space to dictate the play.
The Barcelona academy product made more passes than anyone on the pitch (76), with 50 of those coming in the Chelsea half. He also broke up opposition moves well, making four interceptions in front of the Southampton backline.
Puel compared Romeu to Kante in the build-up to this match, and while he is not quite at the Frenchman’s level, the 25-year-old is probably just as important to the Saints as the PFA Player of the Year is to Chelsea.
#5 Title race over?
This result leaves Chelsea in a commanding position in the race for the Premier League title. Second-placed Tottenham face a tricky test against in-form Crystal Palace tonight, before the small matter of a north London derby against Arsenal at the weekend. Failure to win either encounter would edge Conte’s charges even closer to the title, although their own trip to Everton on Sunday will not be straightforward.
If Chelsea go on to finish at the summit of the standings as expected, the key factor in their triumph will have been their consistency in this type of game: the shock defeat by Palace earlier this month remains the only time they have been beaten by opponents outside the top seven this season.
For Puel’s men, a fourth consecutive top-half finish in the first division – something the club have never accomplished before – is still well within their grasp. It has been another accomplished campaign for Saints, who are arguably the best-run outfit in the division. A 4-2 defeat may sound pretty comprehensive, but Southampton were much better than the scoreline at Stamford Bridge suggests.
