Chelsea 4-0 Southampton: Enzo Maresca’s Blues run riot at Stamford Bridge on a night where fans make their voices heard in pre-match protest against the owners

There was a Chelsea fan at the pre-planned protest outside of Stamford Bridge holding a homemade sign which told their owners: ‘We’re not Arsenal. Win or f*** off.’

Helpful that Southampton were the visitors in order for that obligation to be fulfilled here, then. 

They are on course for one of the worst seasons in Premier League history, hence why bookmakers reckon their chances of surviving under Ivan Juric are as likely as David Beckham being named the next James Bond or Meghan Markle inaugurated as United States president.

Only in a fantasy land will it happen, in other words, and for Chelsea, Southampton were a perfect antidote to their problems. 

After back-to-back losses to Brighton and Aston Villa dropped them down to seventh, this bumped Enzo Maresca’s side back up to fourth for the time being.

Their goals came from Christopher Nkunku, Levi Colwill, Marc Cucurella and Pedro Neto, who celebrated by performing a ‘yapping’ signal with his hand. We cannot say why for sure, though the players have heard the criticism coming from supporters of late.

Chelsea should have scored more, too, with Cole Palmer their most wasteful culprit. 

One more goal and the 22-year-old Englishman will officially move up to 10th in the club’s all-time Premier League scoring charts. He will need to wait for that as this was not his night personally.

This fixture fell on the one-year anniversary of Gary Neville christening Chelsea the ‘blue billion-pound bottle jobs’ in the 2024 Carabao Cup final and before a ball was kicked here, supporters gathered at Stamford Bridge’s Bovril Gate to vent their frustrations at their owners.

Scheduled to start at 6pm, there were 50 participants at first, if that. That number soon swelled to something closer to 200 as they marched together down Fulham Road singing the name of their former owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, along with: ‘We want our Chelsea back.’

Two Premier League victories in their last 10 matches was nowhere near a respectable enough record for a fanbase used to winning for fun, even if there are mitigating factors. 

For one, Chelsea have been crippled by an injury crisis, and two, they are currently without a single striker.

Neto was asked to pretend to be one here, supported by Palmer at No 10 with Nkunku on the left and Jadon Sancho on the right.

When Sancho’s early cross whizzed through the six-yard box undisturbed, it reminded you that they are missing a penalty-box predator, though Palmer was forever making runs in behind Southampton in search of his first Premier League goal since January 14.

Twice he could have scored from Enzo Fernandez’s through-balls inside the opening exchanges. For the first chance, he slipped while shooting, which sent the ball spinning wide.

There could be no blaming Stamford Bridge’s slick turf for Palmer’s second wastage, however. It was a nice pass from Fernandez which left him with only Aaron Ramsdale in his way and yet he blasted the ball straight at Southampton’s goalkeeper from eight yards.

The silver lining is Chelsea scored from the subsequent corner as Fernandez crossed, Tosin Adarabioyo headed on, and Nkunku bundled it in at the back post.

After 32 minutes, Filip Jorgensen acrobatically saved Paul Onuachu’s header, very much in the ‘one for the cameras’ category. Maresca stuck with Jorgensen in goal over Robert Sanchez here, not wishing to crush the confidence of the 22-year-old after Saturday’s error at Aston Villa.

Palmer was played through again thereafter, this time by Sancho. Again, with only Ramsdale to beat, he fired wide. In the 36th minute, Neto showed his team-mate how it is done as he made the most of Flynn Downes losing possession for 2-0.

Chelsea practically confirmed the win before half-time as Neto’s free-kicked cross found Levi Colwill, who headed beyond Ramsdale. They had thrown away 13 Premier League points from winning positions since Boxing Day but not even they could contrive to surrender this lead.

Wesley Fofana was on Chelsea’s bench, back from injury earlier than expected. It was only in January when Maresca claimed the 24-year-old Frenchman – a lynchpin in the Blues’ back line – could miss the remainder of the campaign with a hamstring injury.

He went unused here as Chelsea resisted making any changes at half-time because, well, why meddle with a system which was working. When Palmer blasted the ball over the crossbar in the 57th minute, Stamford Bridge did its best to pick him up, singing his name in a show of support.

Their first changes came when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Tyrique George replaced Sancho and Neto. 

George, one of their own from the academy, is a winger by trade but the 19-year-old acted as a striker here. He had a chance to score within seconds of coming on, but blazed wide.

George assisted Marc Cucurella to complete the scoreline, at least, as two other Cobham graduates in Josh Acheampong and Shim Mheuka were brought on.

Chelsea could not afford to slip up here – not when there has been such fan fury on show – and thankfully for Maresca, they won with ease. If only they could play Southampton every week.