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Chelsea 4 Southampton 2

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Chelsea took another giant step towards the 2016 / 2017 title with an emphatic win against Southampton, at Stamford Bridge.

Antonio Conte made four changes to the starting eleven that had drubbed Spurs, at Wembley, in the FA Cup semi-final with Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Gary Cahill all starting.

Chelsea got the game off to a flying start when, from a swift counter-attack, Diego Costa laid the ball back perfectly for Eden Hazard to drill a low shot across the keeper and into the far corner.

Having nudged ahead though, Chelsea were to concede an equaliser when Southampton capitalised on some poor defending from a corner. A cross into the six yard box was missed by everybody and when Thibaut Courtois was forced to make a save, the ball fell inviting for the former Chelsea midfielder, Oriol Romeu, to stab the ball home from close range.

Southampton were looking dangerous from set-pieces with James Ward-Prowse`s exceptional delivery of the ball into danger areas. But, on the stroke of half-time, it was Chelsea that were to edge ahead. A corner wasn`t cleared sufficiently and when the ball was worked back in there was Gary Cahill, evading the bicycle kick of Diego Costa to powerfully head home the knock-back from Marcos Alonso.

The second half saw Chelsea seize the initiative and the lead was extended to 3-1 when Diego Costa scored his 50th Premier League goal, out-muscling Ryan Bertrand to send a powerful header past Forster in the Southampton goal.

The third goal gave Chelsea the cushion they needed and in front of a buoyant Stamford Bridge crowd they were to snatch a fourth with a scintillating move that saw some intricate variable paced passing before Diego Costa drilled in a low shot.

At 4-1 the game was well and truly won but Chelsea will be disappointed that they were to concede another goal in the dying seconds when Ryan Bertrand was on hand to head neatly home.

The gap has been extended to seven points, at the top of the Premier League table, now let`s sit back and see what Tottenham Hotspur can do tonight.

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