Chelsea sink Southampton as Stephens sent off for pulling Cucurella’s hair

Southampton’s captain, Jack Stephens, was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair as the Premier League’s bottom club were thrashed 5-1 by high-flying Chelsea.

The defender Stephens was dismissed in the 39th minute having tugged the curls of Cucurella during an inexplicable moment of madness.

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

Second-half finishes from Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho piled more misery on Russell Martin’s men.

Chelsea, who stretched their unbeaten run to six top-flight games, could easily have won by more as they hit the woodwork three times, in addition to squandering a host of chances.

The Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca had warned his players to expect their “toughest game” of the season in Hampshire before making seven changes following Sunday’s impressive 3-0 win over Aston Villa.

The goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen made his Premier League debut as part of the squad rotation, while depleted Southampton were missing a host of key players through a combination of injury and suspension.

The visitors edged ahead when Disasi got on the end of a corner from Enzo Fernández to head home from a yard out.

Despite falling behind, Southampton’s start was relatively encouraging and they were rewarded with an 11th-minute leveller after Aribo swept home. But from that moment on, it was downhill for Martin’s team.

Chelsea were gifted back the lead when an attempted pass from the Southampton goalkeeper Joe Lumley to Kyle Walker-Peters was intercepted by Madueke, who slipped in Nkunku to slot into the unguarded net.

Fourth-choice keeper Lumley partially redeemed himself by turning a Palmer effort on to the right post. Tosin Adarabioyo headed against the crossbar from the resulting corner before Madueke doubled the visitors’ lead in the 34th minute by cutting inside Ryan Manning to delightfully curl into the bottom left corner.

Southampton repeatedly invited pressure and suffered another self-inflicted setback just before the break when Stephens was dismissed following a VAR check after a foolish tangle with Cucurella in the Chelsea penalty area.

Adarabioyo then lashed against the right post and Madueke was twice denied by Lumley as Chelsea sought to increase their advantage following the restart.

Palmer extinguished Saints’ scant hopes of a fightback with his ninth goal of the season in the 76th minute after Nkunku did the hard work.

The substitute Sancho increased the gloom among the home supporters three minutes from time as the travelling fans sang “we’ve got our Chelsea back”.