Six things we learned as Chelsea ease to 4-0 victory against Southampton

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Chelsea earned an important three points on Tuesday night as they breezed to a home win over Southampton.

Even though a Chelsea fan protest stole the attention pre-match, the players stayed focused to record a 4-0 victory against the Saints at Stamford Bridge.

The Chelsea player ratings versus Southampton highlighted some key individual displays. Ultimately, the Blues picked up a win to lift them up to fourth spot in the Premier League table.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
4	ChelseaChelsea	27	13	7	7	52	36	16	46

Despite the fact that Enzo Maresca’s side only have three wins in their previous 11 league games, they’re still firmly in the battle for Champions League qualification. It highlights just how strong their early-season form was before the drop off.

Here are six things we learned from Chelsea’s win over Southampton…

Christopher Nkunku may have found his role

Like in the weekend defeat to Aston Villa, Christopher Nkunku started the Southampton fixture playing on the left of attack. It feels like Maresca may have stumbled across his best role moving forward, too.

He scored a brave header for his 14th goal of the season across all competitions, plus created an assist with a clever reverse pass.

We’ve seen Nkunku massively struggle as a striker when asked to cover in the No 9 position. In this role as a left-winger, the 27-year-old’s got a lot more freedom to get on the ball and drift into the pockets where he can impact the game.

Tyrique George is ready for more

Tyrique George, 19, underlined against Southampton that he’s definitely ready for more minutes.

During just over 20 minutes as a substitute on Tuesday evening, the teenage attacker threatened the Saints backline a few occasions with his pace and skill. Also, he got his first Premier League assist in the closing stages during a counter-attacking goal.

Maresca confirmed George will start Chelsea’s next match when they travel to Copenhagen for the first leg of a Conference League knockout tie.

Based on the academy graduate’s performances for the first team this season, he’s ready for more trust as he begins to settle at the senior level. If he can frighten the Southampton backline, he should be excited going into the Copenhagen tie.

Pedro Neto has arrived

Fans should feel confident that the real Pedro Neto has now rocked up in West London.

The 24-year-old’s form has been a bit stop-start this season during his debut year in Chelsea colours, but we’re now seeing the player that was signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers last summer.

We’re certain his long-term future will be in his preferred position as a winger. However, he’s now burst into a bit of form playing as an emergency striker in back-to-back matches.

Levi Colwill raved about Neto’s performance as a centre-forward against Southampton, where he scored and assisted to cap a wonderful contribution.

Hopefully, there’s still a lot more to come from Neto as he bids to improve his attacking output so far this season.

• 31 Chelsea appearances
• 5 Goals
• 7 Assists

Chelsea can win without Cole Palmer

The responsibility on the shoulders of Cole Palmer, 22, has been immense since he arrived at Chelsea from Manchester City in the summer of 2023.

A big takeaway from the Blues’ triumph over Southampton is that they can win and score plenty of goals without him.

He couldn’t score or assist against the Saints despite playing the full 90 minutes, which now means he’s gone seven matches across all competitions without a direct goal contribution.

Palmer has promised he’ll bounce back after firing another blank in Chelsea’s latest match, but it’s a great sign that others are prepared to step up.

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Still question marks around Filip Jorgensen

While we’re delighted that Filip Jorgensen just recorded his first-ever clean sheet in the Premier League, there must still be question marks around him and his long-term spot in the starting XI.

Jorgensen was subject to boos against Southampton from Chelsea supporters that were extremely nervous when he had the possession of the ball at his feet. The anxiety from fans is unlikely to go away, too.

Maresca insists Jorgensen must keep playing short as per his strict instruction. Unfortunately, we don’t think it’ll get any easier for the 22-year-old shot-stopper to silence his critics and doubters.

The Blues haven’t had a reliable number one in-between the sticks since Edouard Mendy’s purple patch a few years ago, and it’s a problem position that is really holding them back.

Marc Cucurella must be the full-back who inverts

We’ve seen several different players invert from full-back so far in the season for Chelsea. It’s fairly clear that Marc Cucurella is the best of the bunch, though.

Yet again, the left-back put in the type of industrious performance against Southampton that reminds everyone why he’s been one of the team’s very best players under Maresca.

The 26-year-old left-back scored his fourth goal of the season across all competitions with a tidy finish into the bottom corner late on.

He keeps it fairly simple and recycles possession well when he’s higher up the pitch in central or wide positions. As for his defensive work off the ball, he brings so much aggression and energy to massively help out his teammates.