Southampton slumped to their third straight league defeat with a 4-1 loss to Chelsea at St Mary’s.
Chelsea broke the deadlock after 17 minutes when Tammy Abraham was played in behind and lobbed the ball over the stranded Angus Gunn who was caught in no man’s land.
The visitor’s advantage was doubled soon after when more defensive frailties led to Mason Mount firing past Gunn from inside the box.
There was no let up in the scoring as Saints hit back thanks to a brilliant run from Yan Valery down the right before drilling the ball across goal and ricocheting off Danny Ings into the back of the net.
Frank Lampard’s side added a third before the break through a hopeful N’golo Kante shot from distance which deflected off Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and past the wrong-footed Gunn.
The game then failed to get started in the second-half with Chelsea controlling the proceedings until late on when Michy Batshuayi added a fourth.
This defeat leaves Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side just one point above the relegation zone as we go into the second international break of the season.
Here’s how we rated the Southampton players:
Angus Gunn: 3
It’s now three straight games that Gunn has made at least one mistake and his place in the team is under serious scrutiny. He was caught in no man’s land for the Chelsea opener and a poor kick eventually led to their second.
Yan Valery: 5
A tale of two halves for the returning Valery. He added an extra threat in the final third which was evidenced by his superb run that resulted in the Saints goal, but was often exposed defensively including the Chelsea third when he was caught too far forward which gave Marcos Alonso far too much space down his side.
Jan Bednarek: 4
Bednarek was another one that made a mistake that led to a goal after his soft header gifted Chelsea possession for their second.
Maya Yoshida: 4
Yoshida almost produced a spectacular clearance off the line for the Chelsea opener but contributed to an overall poor defensive display.
Ryan Bertrand: 4
You could argue that today’s game showed why Hasenhuttl has been reluctant to use a back-four with Bertrand and Valery at full-back. Both of them are rather attack minded which often exposes the two centre-backs as was the case this afternoon.
James Ward-Prowse: 4
Ward-Prowse seemed a bit off the pace in all areas of his game today, including his set-pieces that he so often relies on.
Oriol Romeu: 5
Romeu’s standards have been high this season but he struggled a bit more against his former club and couldn’t give the defence the protection they needed.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: 4
Hojbjerg was part of a midfield that lacked creativity, his season is yet to get going so far and I’m left feeling he could have done more to influence the result.
Nathan Redmond: 4
End product was pretty poor today for Redmond who got into dangerous areas but often wasted them.
Danny Ings: 7
Ings is arguably the most in-form Saints player and added another goal to his collection today. He was also crucial in starting the press that gave his side some joy in the final third in the first-half.
Shane Long: 5
Plenty of endeavor from Long but also very little quality, which is a sentence you could say about most of his performances.
Michael Obafemi (sub): 5
Not too much that Obafemi could’ve done in a game that was petering out.
Sofiane Boufal (sub): N/A
I was surprised by Boufal’s omission and we could have done with that attacking spark in the final third.
Che Adams (sub): N/A
It’s the second game running that Adams has been left out and he has some work to do to get back in with Ings in a good run of form.