Diego Costa doubled Chelsea's lead with his Premier League-leading 8th goal of the season early in the second half, and while Chelsea then managed to waste a couple glorious chances after that, the defensive solidity remained (Austin did have the ball in the back of the net, but he was offside) and the Blues saw out the stellar 2-0 win.
It's only the second time Southampton have lost at home in the league in 2016. The first time? Also Chelsea.
Big win.
- Diego Costa's 8th goal of the season is his 40th for Chelsea in the Premier League.
40 - Diego Costa has scored his 40th Premier League goal in his 64th appearance; seven games faster than it took Sergio Aguero. Lethal.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 30, 2016 - Hazard's 5th goal of the season is one more than he scored all of last season. More and more, it's looking like last season was just a strange blip for the Chelsea talisman.
- Fourth win, fourth clean sheet in a row. This is becoming a habit, one not seen in some time, and that's fantastic.
- Welcome back, Branislav Ivanović, backup right wing-back.
- With the win, Chelsea keep pace with the top 3 (unlike Spurs), just one point off Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool who are all tied in what's promising to be a very tight race for the title.
- KTBFFH. Carefree.
The plan is to try this FB Live thing in a few minutes, so watch for a link in this space.
Predictably enough, the technology failed us. Maybe next time.
UPDATE: Figured it out!
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