Easy Chelsea win can't hide threat to the soul of football

Enzo Maresca, for now, has his Chelsea back at least. Whether it will quieten down supporter protest in the medium term remains to be seen.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

This is about more than whether Chelsea can be a Champions League club again, even as this 4-0 win over Southampton temporarily put them back into the top four.

That in turn undid the effects of the Aston Villa defeat at the weekend, in the way that seems to keep happening in this season’s wide-ranging race for the top four. No one can seize the moment, so Chelsea aren’t alone there. The greater question is whether it will undo bigger concerns about Maresca’s team over the past few weeks, not to mention more profound questions over identity.

That’s the thing about a win over Southampton right now. A fixture against them is almost one of those thankless games in that victory is expected, but dropped points would lead to utter excoriation. Almost. It wasn’t quite that mundane for Chelsea because they so badly needed a win, with this only their third in 11 Premier League games.

There was a bit of vim to their attack again, too, but how couldn’t there be against Ivan Juric’s sorry side? We are into the territory of talking about one of the worst Premier League sides ever, since the Saints still need three points to beat Derby County’s 2007-08 record of 11. That’s where they’re at.

Then again, Chelsea are at a strange moment in their own history, given how this game was preceded by supporter protest against the Clearlake owners.

It’s been a theme. It is certainly worth noting that this is only the latest supporter protest in the Premier League, following on from neighbours Tottenham Hotspur two weeks ago.

And while such demonstrations are always linked to results in some way, it would be wrong to not acknowledge there is obviously something much deeper going on.