Southampton captain Jack Stephens was despatched off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair because the Premier League’s backside membership had been thrashed 5-1 by high-flying Chelsea.

Defender Stephens noticed pink within the thirty ninth minute at St Mary’s, having tugged the curls of Cucurella throughout an inexplicable second of insanity whereas Saints had been getting ready to take a nook.

Chelsea already led 3-1 at that stage due to objectives from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke after Southampton midfielder Joe Aribo briefly cancelled out Axel Disasi’s early opener.

Second-half finishes from Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho piled extra distress on Russell Martin’s males.

Stephens’ ridiculous dismissal was the headline mistake of a listing of errors from the beleaguered hosts as they slipped seven factors from security following an Eleventh defeat of a dismal season.

Chelsea, who stretched their unbeaten run to 6 top-flight video games, may simply have gained by extra as they hit the woodwork thrice, along with squandering a number of possibilities.

Blues head coach Enzo Maresca had warned his gamers to anticipate their “hardest sport” of the season in Hampshire earlier than making seven adjustments following Sunday’s spectacular 3-0 win over Aston Villa.

Blues goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen made his Premier League debut as a part of the squad rotation, whereas depleted Southampton had been lacking a number of key gamers by a mixture of harm and suspension.

Jorgensen, a £20million summer season arrival from Villarreal, was pressured right into a second-minute save to disclaim Aribo following Walker-Peters’ cross, albeit the latter was subsequently flagged offside.

Chelsea edged forward simply 5 minutes later. Captain Enzo Fernandez delivered a harmful inswinging nook from the left and Disasi escaped the Saints defence to go house from a yard out.

Regardless of falling behind, Southampton’s begin was comparatively encouraging and so they had been rewarded with an Eleventh-minute leveller.

Walker-Peters once more supplied the creativity, simply beating Fernandez near the left byline earlier than delivering a low cross for Aribo to brush house.

From that second on, it was downhill for Martin’s staff.

Chelsea had been gifted again the lead within the seventeenth minute when an tried move from superior Saints goalkeeper Joe Lumley to Walker-Peters was intercepted by Madueke, who slipped in Nkunku to fit into the unguarded internet.

Fourth-choice Saints keeper Lumley, chosen within the absence of Aaron Ramsdale and Gavin Bazunu and amid the poor type of Alex McCarthy, partially redeemed himself by turning a Palmer effort on to the appropriate submit.

Tosin Adarabioyo headed in opposition to the crossbar from the ensuing nook earlier than Madueke doubled the guests’ lead within the thirty fourth minute by reducing inside Ryan Manning to delightfully curl into the underside left nook.

Southampton repeatedly invited strain with their dangerous makes an attempt to play out from defence and so they suffered one other self-inflicted setback simply earlier than the break.

After referee Tony Harrington was known as to the pitch-side monitor by VAR, Stephens was dismissed for the second time this time period following a silly tangle with Cucurella within the Chelsea penalty space as James Bree waited to take the set-piece.

Adarabioyo lashed in opposition to the appropriate submit and Madueke was twice denied by Lumley as Chelsea sought to extend their benefit following the restart.

Southampton nearly halved their deficit earlier than Madueke’s alternatives when Jorgensen denied Mateus Fernandes together with his toes.

However, following a quick delay attributable to a pitch invader, Palmer extinguished Saints’ scant hopes of a fightback by tapping in his ninth purpose of the season within the 76th minute after Nkunku did the exhausting work.

Travelling followers saluted a dominant victory by chanting ‘we’ve acquired our Chelsea again’ and singing the title of their supervisor within the closing phases.

Substitute Sancho elevated the gloom among the many house supporters three minutes from time, firing powerfully previous Lumley at his close to submit to finish the rout.