Soccer

Round-up: Chelsea hit top gear with six goals at Southampton

Rejuvenated Leeds dent Watford’s survival hopes with win at Vicarage Road

Mason Mount celebrates scoring Chelsea’s sixth goal at St Mary’s Stadium. Photograph: Getty Images

Sat Apr 9 2022 - 17:45

Southampton 0 Chelsea 6

Chelsea roared back to form as two goals each by Timo Werner and Mason Mount and first half strikes by Marcos Alonso and Kai Havertz sealed a 6-0 Premier League win over Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on Saturday.

Chelsea went up 1-0 in the eighth minute as Alonso ran on to a deft flick by Mount and blasted in his first league goal since the opening day of the campaign.

Mount, Chelsea’s leading scorer in the league this season, equalled his tally of nine goals from the previous campaign with a superb shot from outside the box after Southampton’s shaky defence failed to deal with Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s cross.

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Southampton's implosion continued as Werner made up for his earlier misses by beating Jan Bednarek for pace before rounding Fraser Forster and finishing into an empty net. Havertz then swept in Chelsea's fourth after Werner hit the post again.

A relentless Chelsea were rewarded again after the break as Werner tapped in a rebound from N’Golo Kante’s effort which was saved by Forster. Mount completed the rout with another simple finish in the 54th minute.

It was the perfect tonic for the European champions, who were beaten 3-1 by Real Madrid in the opening leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday after being thrashed 4-1 by Brentford last weekend following the international break.

Watford 0 Leeds 3

A revitalised Leeds United took a big step towards Premier League survival with a 3-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road, dealing another blow to the hosts’ dwindling hopes of staying in the top flight.

Relegation-threatened Watford needed a win after Everton beat Manchester United earlier on Saturday to distance themselves from the drop zone but goals from Raphinha, Rodrigo and Jack Harrison condemned them to a ninth straight home defeat.

Roy Hodgson’s side were toothless in front of goal and shaky in defence, unable to capitalise on an early attacking spell as the visitors took the lead thanks to a botched clearance.

Dan James slid the ball across to Raphinha on the edge of the 18-yard box and the Brazilian international's shot curled past Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster and went in off the post for his 10th goal of the season.

A defensive mix-up between Hassane Kamara and Samir gifted Leeds their second goal as the Watford duo could not deal with a routine ball forward, allowing Rodrigo to round Foster and tap into an unguarded net.

Harrison added a third with six minutes remaining through an angled strike to end the game on a high note for Leeds, who remained in 16th place with 33 points. Watford are 19th with 22 points, six points from safety.

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