Chelsea continued their fine run of form with a 5-1 victory away at Premier League strugglers Southampton, who were reduced to 10 men.

They went in front early on through Axel Disasi’s header but were quickly pegged back as Joe Aribo fired home an equaliser for the home side.

Chelsea reclaimed the lead through goals from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke, before Cole Palmer and substitute Jadon Sancho further added to their lead in the second half.

A miserable night for Southampton was made more difficult when Jack Stephens was shown a red card by in the first half following a VAR review after an entanglement with Marc Cucurella.

The emphatic victory sees Chelsea move up to second, seven points behind leaders Liverpool, while Southampton remain at the foot of the table.

In fact, Southampton are only the seventh team to lose as many as 11 of their first 14 Premier League games in a season, along with Sunderland (2005-06), Portsmouth (2009-10), Bolton (2011-12), Aston Villa (2015-16), Sheffield United (2020-21 and 2023-24) and Burnley (2023-24) – all of those teams were relegated.

Data Debrief: Fernandez's helping hand

Enzo Fernandez helped get the ball rolling when he teed up Disasi's opener, and the Argentine now has seven assists in all competitions for Chelsea this season, the most of any Blues player. Indeed, he now has six assists in his last five games.

Chelsea did benefit from some poor defending, though. Southampton have made nine errors leading to opposition goals in the Premier League this season, four more than any other side. In the entirety of last season, the only side who made more errors leading to goals were Brentford, with 10.

The Blues have now scored five or more goals in two away Premier League games this season (6-2 vs Wolves, 5-1 vs Southampton), the first time they have done so twice in a season since 2014-15.

With Newcastle United drawing 3-3 with Liverpool, it opened the door for Enzo Maresca's team to move within seven points of the Reds.