Southampton 1-4 Chelsea: Tammy Abraham, Mount, Kante and Batshuayi on target in comfortable away win

JOE KRISHNAN 
Sunday 6 October 2019 15:51 
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Chelsea made it four straight wins in all competitions after a comfortable 4-1 victory against struggling Southampton at St Mary's.

Tammy Abraham scored his eighth league goal of the season with a delightful lob before Mason Mount added a second seven minutes later.

Danny Ings got one back for the hosts but N'Golo Kante's deflected strike, and a late strike from substitute Michy Batshuayi made sure of the points.

Callum Hudson-Odoi was handed his first Premier League start since returning from an Achilles injury while Christian Pulisic, after much speculation about his future, returned to the bench.

The hosts started brightly and nearly went ahead inside the first minute when Nathan Redmond fired just over from 20 yards.

Both sides looked nervy at the back early on and with so many defensive errors, it didn't take long for Chelsea to take advantage.

Hudson-Odoi floated a clever ball over the top to Abraham and with Gunn in no man's land, the 22-year-old improvised with a high lob which crossed the line before Maya Yoshida could clear, and the goal was eventually awarded by goal-line technology.

Seven minutes later, Chelsea doubled their lead thanks to more shoddy defending from Ralph Hasenhuttl's men.

Jan Bednarek's header was picked off by Jorginho, who played in Willian and his pass found Mount. The 20-year-old skipped past Yoshida all too easily and finished emphatically at the near post.

Mount should have got his second just minutes later after being teed up by Abraham but somehow dragged his shot wide when a third looked inevitable.

Southampton pulled one back out of nowhere when Yan Valery got between four Chelsea players, sent a low cross into the box and Kurt Zouma's clearance richocheted off Ings and into the net.

The crowd were buoyed by the prospect of their side chasing an equaliser but soon had their hopes squashed when Kante's effort deflected in off Hjojberg for Chelsea's third in a goal-laden first half.

The tempo died down in the second half as Southampton looked to limit the damage but Hudson-Odoi could - and should - have bagged his first of the season, only to see his strike turned away by Gunn.

Chelsea finally added a fourth in the 89th minute, when substitutes Christian Pulisic and Batshuayi combined well for the Belgian to slot home.

Chelsea were rarely troubled though as Lampard's side claimed a third straight away win to climb to fifth in the Premier League table.