Chelsea’s title challenge under Antonio Conte seems more persuasive with every passing week. This was arguably a more impressively constructed victory than that handed to them so obligingly by Manchester United the previous Sunday, a win chiselled out against one of the form teams in the division and a side who had not lost here since February. Southampton ended up feeling forlorn. Given the hosts’ underlying qualities to win this comfortably was remarkable.
Chelsea, then under Guus Hiddink’s interim stewardship, had been the last team to prevail at Southampton’s expense on the south coast, but that had been a success squeezed late and improbably from an even contest. This, in contrast, was a masterclass in how to exert almost complete control despite the home side hogging the ball for the majority of the play. Conte’s side, so expertly drilled, kept their opponents at arm’s length throughout. Their celebrations in front of the away support at the end, with the manager barely able to contain his delight, reinforced the impression the collective is suddenly strong.
This was a show of new-found strength. So much has been made of the Italian’s three-man defensive block – a system adopted out of desperation back when Chelsea had been exposed too often as vulnerable – but they seamlessly morphed into a five when required, with wing-backs working feverishly at both ends of the pitch and a midfield crammed with energy and industry. They have adapted superbly to the change in formation and have not been breached in 410 minutes of Premier League football, all but five of which have been with a trio of centre-halves blunting their opponents’ intent.
A team that had appeared so fragile against the fluid movement offered up by Liverpool and Arsenal in recent weeks have unearthed steel. Picking passage through these resolute massed banks of blue must feel an onerous task. It was one utterly beyond Southampton.
Thibaut Courtois made one save of relative note, from a Dusan Tadic free-kick, and watched Charlie Austin head over the bar and have another effort ruled out for offside, but a team who had been on the charge up the table over recent weeks would have expected to inflict more damage than that. Claude Puel cited fatigue as a contributory factor, but figuratively thumping your head against a brick wall for 90 minutes can presumably have that effect. “It is so difficult to play against,” added the Frenchman through a sigh.
Stubborn, well-marshalled defence alone would not have been enough to prevail here, but Chelsea boast sufficient spark in forward areas to capitalise on such solidity. Those wing-backs, and particularly the revived Victor Moses down the right, offer pace and width while the trickery of Eden Hazard and Pedro combines thrillingly with Diego Costa’s brute strength.
The goal the Spain international curled so gloriously beyond an exposed Fraser Forster from just outside the penalty area 10 minutes into the second half, as Cuco Martina limply hung out a leg in a half-hearted attempt to block, was his eighth this season and 40th in only 64 top-flight outings, a record all the more staggering given his own rather fitful contribution through last season’s toils.
Costa may not always see eye-to-eye with a manager every bit as intense on the touchline as the striker is out on the turf, but a player whose temperament has so often left him open to sanction has led the line through four league wins without accruing the fifth yellow card of term that will see him serve a ban. The 28-year-old has effectively played on the edge of suspension for well over a month, retaining his snarl but ensuring his infamously physical and inflammatory approach has not crossed the line. At some point the yellow will come Costa’s way but, at present, it is more appropriate to acknowledge the goalscoring contribution he is making to the team.
Then there is Hazard. It had been the Belgian who eased the visitors aheadat St Mary’s, a cleverly delivered move upfield culminating in Moses slipping a return pass round Ryan Bertrand for the winger, evading Steve Davis, to collect. He took his time to tease out Davis’ sliding tackle before cutting inside and ripping a low shot through Forster’s legs at his near post.
It was the third successive game in which Hazard had scored, swelling his season’s tally to five. He has managed more goals in 10 games this season than he mustered in all 31 last time round and feels less of an indulgence when he contributes like this. “He has come back to a good level after last season’s difficulties,” said Puel, who had handed Hazard his first-team debut while at Lille. The 25-year-old was a constant threat here, as he has been all season, and was denied further reward only by Forster’s excellence and a timely José Fonte interception.
Southampton should not wallow in this mismatch overly long. They have Internazionale to come here on Thursday in the Europa League, when Puel will seek an immediate response. They are more than capable of claiming that tie so impressive has their own recent form proved, but here it was Chelsea who imposed themselves more coherently. It took them 20 games and into the new year to gather this many points last season. This time round theirs is an unnerving presence hovering on the leading trio’s shoulder.
