Chelsea 4-0 Southampton: Losing streak comes to an end as Maresca delivers verdict | OneFootball

Chelsea cruised to a 4-0 victory over Southampton in the Premier League on Tuesday night.

It was the result head coach Enzo Maresca and his side needed after a run of three defeats in all competitions.

Their home form has propped them up the table, which sees them currently in fourth, though sides around them have a game in hand to leapfrog the Blues.

Southampton continued to look like a side destined for relegation. Bottom of the table and Chelsea comfortably put three, and it could’ve been more, past the visitors in the first half in west London.

Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring for Chelsea with a heading at the back post, before setting up Pedro Neto who rifled a powerful shot past Aaron Ramsdale to double their lead after 36 minutes.

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But Chelsea had one more goal in them before the interval to put the game out of sight. Levi Colwill powered home a header to extend the advantage to all but make sure of the three points.

Cole Palmer had several chances to find the back of the net, but it wasn’t his day in front of goal. As Maresca ordered, the team got Chelsea through on Tuesday night as the goals shared around the side.

Marc Cucurella completed the scoring with 12 minutes to go. A lovely pullback from substitute Tyrique George was left by Nkunku to fall into the path of Cucurella, who fired past Ramsdale to deepen the Saints’ torrid evening.

A deserved win for Chelsea and much-needed to put a halt to the growing frustration as the season heads into its most crucial part.

"We all needed that," reflected Maresca post-match. "We were in a bad run in terms of results. The performance was always there, maybe except against Brighton. The club needed that. We are happy."

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Chelsea’s bid for Champions League qualification is on track and now they have a week to recover before flying out to Denmark for their Conference League Round of 16 tie against FC Copenhagen.

The positive mood has returned and Chelsea will hope it's for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the lack of quality Southampton showed and have, Chelsea must use the win to fuel confidence to begin an important run to cement their league position.

A professional job done against the Saints. Copenhagen next, with another relegation-destined side Leicester City to visit Stamford Bridge next in the league. The next two weeks appear to be potential season-deciders in determining how Chelsea head into a crucial run of fixtures in April and May.