Southampton 0 - 3 Chelsea : 3 talking points about the game | Premier League 2018/19
A win for the Blues would have taken them top of the league temporarily while for the Mark Hughes's men, it was a matter of improving their home form. The Saints had won only one of their last 14 games at St Mary's stadium.
Chelsea started the game on the front foot putting constant pressure on the Southampton box. The Saints had a hard time to get hold of the ball in the initial stages. Eden Hazard's effort blocked from close-range. Amidst all these, Danny Ings missed a sitter from three yards for Southampton much to the dismay of Mark Hughes.
But the inevitable happened when the ball fell to Eden Hazard who made no mistake to put the ball back of the net and score his seventh goal of the season. After the goal, Chelsea played a safe game controlling the ball and possession. The Blues failed to get that second goal, and both teams went into the break with Chelsea leading by a goal to nil.
The first chance of the second half fell to Ryan Bertrand who like Danny Ings skied the ball over the bar. Southampton had their best spell of the game with Ings hitting straight to Kepa. Against the run of play, Chelsea doubled their lead after Giroud crossed inside the six-yard box from a free kick allowing Barkley a simple tap-in for the second.
The last quarter of the game, the Saints went for it with Kepa making two stunning saves from Redmond and Ings. But the day rounded off with Morata finishing Saints off scoring the third goal for Chelsea and his second in two games. Again Eden Hazard with the assist. The game ended with Chelsea went top of the pile for the time being.
Here are the three talking points from the game:
#3 Sensational Hazard
Eden Hazard was Chelsea's best player on the pitch once again. The Belgian was a nightmare for Southampton's defense. His movement, passing, and dribbling coupled with his sudden change of pace inside the box kept the Saint's defense modest for 90 minutes.
Hazard opened the scoring for Chelsea in the first half from a Ross Barkley pass which he calmly put past the goalkeeper. He even provided the assist for Morata's goal. The winger is now Premier League top scorer in this campaign, and his form is a threatening sight for rest of the clubs in the league.