Super Eagles midfielder, Joe Aribo scored the lone goal for Southampton as they suffered a 5-1 defeat against Chelsea at the St Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday.
Chelsea went into the fixture on a six-game unbeaten streak, while Southampton had not won a game in over a month. As such, it was an uphill battle for the Saints as they sought a win that would push them towards safety.
Aribo was deployed in the midfield alongside Mateus Fernandes, Ryan Fraser, and Adam Armstrong, up against arguably the most expensive midfield in the world in a Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez double pivot.
Chelsea began the game strongly with Enzo Fernandez delivering a corner kick that was converted by Axel Disasi for 1-0 just seven minutes into the game. However, less than four minutes after the goal, Aribo got Southampton back into the game with a composed finish after a brilliant play by Kyle Walker-Peters.
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The Blues retook the lead in the 17th minute as Madueke intercepted a pass from Joe Lumley, feeding the ball to Christopher Nkunku who calmly slotted the ball into an open net. They extended their led in the 34th minute as João Felix picked out Madueke in the box for the English international to apply a fine finish into the bottom left corner.
The Saints were reduced to ten men as Jack Stephens was sent off for violent conduct after pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
The home team remained undeterred despite the red card, as continued to control possession and look for ways to create big chances. However Chelsea’s advantage meant Southampton could not hurt them. Joe Aribo almost added an assist to his goal as his cutback to Cameron Archer was stopped by Filip Jorgensen.
Cole Palmer scored his eighth goal of the season to make the score line 4-1 following a brilliant play by Christopher Nkunku. Jadon Sancho was then played through by Malo Gusto in the 87th minute to wrap up the game via an unstoppable shot to the right hand side of the post.
With the result, Southampton remain 20th with just five points in 14 games. Meanwhile, Chelsea move up to second with 28 points in the same number of games.
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