Southampton reduced to 10 men in heavy defeat against Chelsea

Axel Disasi headed the Blues ahead inside seven minutes but Joe Aribo turned in a slick team goal to level for the lively Saints shortly after. 

Christopher Nkunku then capitalised on another mistake in possession before Noni Madueke ended the tie as a contest and made it 3-1 in the 35th minute.

Saints captain Jack Stephens then made a very hard task nearly impossible, receiving a silly red card for pulling Marc Cucurella's curly hair before the break.

Cole Palmer scored the fourth 10 minutes from time and Jadon Sancho later confirmed Southampton's 11th defeat in 14 league matches.

Manager Russell Martin made four changes to his team that drew 1-1 at Brighton, with three enforced due to yellow cards on Friday night.

Paul Onuachu and Jan Bednarek were still not fit enough to make the bench, further reducing his options, while goalkeeper Joe Lumley kept his place.

Martin did not need his task to be made any harder and needed Premier League debutant Nathan Wood to step up on his first league start for Saints. 

All eight previous clubs to have five or fewer points at this stage in the top flight were relegated, with the last to survive being Sheffield United in 1990/91.

Saints did the double over Chelsea when they were relegated in 2022/23 but they have not won three consecutive league games against them in nearly 40 years.

Aribo had the first chance of the contest, or so he thought, but the linesman's flag went up after he fired at Filip Jorgensen from inside the Blues box.

And it took only seven minutes for Chelsea to take the lead, as Disasi headed in beyond a flappy Lumley from a corner tucked into the near-post.

However, Saints hit back three minutes later when Kyle Walker-Peters nutmegged his man to give a well-positioned Aribo a tap-in for his second goal of the season.

Chelsea were back in front in the 17th minute as Saints made a ninth error leading directly to a goal this season - by far the most in the league.

Lumley attempted a short pass out to Walker-Peters and England's Madueke picked his pocket to square for Nkunku with the goal unguarded.

Lumley, in only his second top-flight match, excellently denied Palmer the third and Tosin Adarabioyo headed onto the crossbar from the resultant corner. 

Cameron Archer was key to the Saints equaliser but should have done more with a chance he forged down the left before Chelsea added their third.

With just over 10 minutes left in the half, Enzo Fernandez had too much space in midfield to feed Madueke the chance to cut in and shoot low across the goal.

It went from bad to worse when Stephens - one of only two fit senior centre-halves - was sent off for pulling the hair of Chelsea's Cucurella at a Saints corner.

More goals were threatened after the break as Joao Felix and Tosin wasted good chances and Ryan Manning produced a superb block to prevent Madueke.

Jorgensen then made a stellar save on Mateus Fernandes and Lumley returned the favour against Madueke twice before a fan-caused stoppage in play.

One gentleman had decided he'd seen enough and entered the field of play - stumbling over before he was eventually apprehended by Saints security.

Palmer then nicked Chelsea's fourth as soon as the game reignited, turning in Nkunku's goalbound shot with his last action of the game. 

Substitute Jadon Sancho powered beyond Lumley in the 87th minute while the visiting fans were already mocking the Saints support flooding to the exits.

Saints: Lumley; Walker-Peters, Bree (Edwards, 78), Stephens, Wood, Manning; Aribo, Fernandes (Taylor, 78), Armstrong (Brereton Diaz, 62), Fraser (Kamaldeen, 62); Archer (Sugawara, 62)

Unused subs: McCarthy, Cornet, O'Brien-Whitmarsh, Amo-Ameyaw.

Booked: Armstrong.

Sent off: Stephens.

Chelsea: Jorgensen; Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Cucurella (Veiga, 79); Caicedo, Fernandes, Palmer (Dewsbury-Hall, 79); Madueke (Sancho, 72), Felix, Nkunku.

Unused subs: Sanchez, Badiashile, Colwill, Lavia, Neto, Jackson.

Referee: Tony Harrington.

VAR: Matt Donohue.