Chelsea have recorded their fourth successive win in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Southampton.
Eden Hazard opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Diego Costa added a second from 25 yards soon after half time.
Southampton midfielder Steven Davis hit the crossbar but the home side were largely ineffective against a team who have now registered four clean sheets in a row.
Read below to see how the action unfolded at St Mary's.
3.01pmHello, and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage of the match in the Premier League between Southampton and Chelsea.
3.05pmAlready this season, we've had Chelsea being forced to watch on from the sidelines after missing out on European football and we've had Southampton facing Inter Milan at the San Siro. It should be the other way around, shouldn't it? Not in today's Premier League it shouldn't. Southampton are finally being rewarded for their consistency over the past few years and Chelsea are having to get any complacency out of their game to try to get back to where they belong. This should be a tasty encounter.
3.07pmLATEST! Before we get onto the team news, I shall tell you that we've just had another goal in the match between Everton and West Ham United. The Toffees now lead 2-0 thanks to a much-needed goal for Ross Barkley.
3.08pmRight then, without further ado, let's see who Claude Puel and Antonio Conte have decided to select this afternoon.
3.09pmSOUTHAMPTON XI: Forster, Martina, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Romeu, Clasie, Davis, Tadic, Redmond, Austin
3.10pmSOUTHAMPTON SUBSTITUTES: Taylor, Yoshida, Ward-Prowse, Boufal, Hojbjerg, Olomola, McQueen
3.11pmCHELSEA XI: Courtois, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill, Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso, Pedro, Diego Costa, Hazard
3.15pmIt's pretty much as expected as far as Southampton are concerned. Ryan Bertrand is fit enough to return after a four-week layoff to take the place of Sam McQueen at left-back. There was the possibility of Sofiane Boufal being handed his first start in the Premier League but he has to settle for a place on the bench.
3.18pmThe same can be said for Chelsea too. Barring injury, Conte was never going to make any alterations to a team which thrashed Manchester United last weekend with the Italian selecting an unchanged starting lineup. The likes of John Terry, Oscar and Willian all have to make do with a place among the substitutes.
3.22pmHEAD TO HEAD! Rather surprisingly (to me anyway!), Southampton and Chelsea are yet to play 100 times. To be precise, they have met 97 times with the Saints claiming 30 wins in comparison to 39 victories for the Blues. The last eight matches have seen a wide range of results with Chelsea being successful on three occasions and Southampton twice.
3.26pmFORM! Again, surprisingly to me, both these teams feature outside of the top four in the form table. However, don't be fooled that we may see two under-performing sides this afternoon. Southampton are unbeaten in their last five games in the Premier League while Chelsea have emerged victorious in their last three. To read more on that, visit our Stat Centre.
3.30pmRESULT! The full-time whistle has gone at Goodison Park and Everton have completed a 2-0 win over West Ham United. After a fast start, they had started to falter but that victory should help then become a renewed threat in the top half of the standings. Catch our match report here.
3.34pmIt was only February when St Mary's last hosted a fixture between these two sides and it was Chelsea who came out on top thanks to a couple of late goals. Why not take a look to see what went down with our match report. Unfortunately for Chelsea, neither of their goalscorers from that day are in the starting lineup!
3.39pmWe have touched on this already but Ryan Bertrand has returned from injury just in time to face his former side. It's easy to forget that the left-sided England international started in a Champions League final for Chelsea. He has memories from Stamford Bridge which will last a lifetime but he definitely made the right decision to move to Southampton. He has made 77 appearances for the club since joining in the summer of 2014 and it would come as no surprise if he goes on to become the club's most longest-serving left-back since Francis Benali.
3.43pmOf course, when mentioning former players, we should not forget Oriol Romeu. Chelsea never got to see the best of him but since his switch to Southampton, he has established himself as the club's leading central midfielder. He's gone on to play 47 times for the Saints and given his previous injury troubles and being sent on loan by the Blues, he deserves a lot of credit for making a success of his time in England.
3.48pmBoth these clubs face opposition from Manchester last weekend and while Chelsea earned rave reviews for demolishing United, Southampton put in a different kind of performance to earn a draw away at City. It was a game of few chances but Puel found the formula to stifle all of the quality in Pep Guardiola's side and they were perhaps unlucky to only gain a point. If they produce a similar display this afternoon, especially in front of their own supporters, they are capable of ending Chelsea's recent run.
3.52pmPREDICTION! Very difficult one to call, this one. I'm inclined to go with a narrow win for Southampton but it's hard to ignore the pace and power in Chelsea's starting lineup. We think Southampton will have the better of this contest but Chelsea have enough quality to come away with a score draw.
3.56pmThe two teams have converged in the tunnel and are slowly making their way out onto the pitch at St Mary's. The Saints fans are making plenty of noise - they now go into fixtures with Chelsea expecting to win rather than hoping. Kickoff is coming right up.
1 minChelsea get us underway.
3 minChelsea have made a very quick start to this football match and they are almost rewarded when Hazard gets to the byline and crosses for Costa. However, the defender - I think it was Van Dijk - gets across to make the block.
6 minGOAL! Southampton 0-1 Chelsea (Hazard)
6 minSouthampton don't concede many goals but they are already 1-0 down in this match. Moments after they had threatened up the other end, Chelsea put together a move which centred around Hazard. After getting to the byline, the Belgian cut back and took the ball past Davis before drilling a shot through the legs of Forster. It's a fantastic goal from a player rejuvenated under Conte.
9 minMoses goes down from an elbow in the face from Davis and he's not at all happy. It's not the most aggressive of elbows but it was dangerous territory as far as Davis was concerned. To Moses's frustration, the referee doesn't tolerate his reaction and tells him to calm down.
13 minAside from conceding the goal, Southampton have started well. They are spraying the ball around with intent, while attempting to draw Chelsea out from their 3-4-3 formation.
14 minCHANCE! Southampton's first proper chance of the match falls to Austin, who rises above the Chelsea defence to meet a free kick from Davis. However, he can't divert the ball on target and it goes a few yards wide. He would have expected to do better there.
18 minIt's all Southampton as far as possession is concerned but Chelsea go from A to B extremely quickly and the home side are wary of that. They've already been done by Hazard's wizardry inside the penalty area and they are being cautious when it comes to throwing too many men forward.
22 minWe've not had too many shots, have we? It's been pretty much what I was expecting but there's going to be a time when this game stops simmering and bursts into life. That said, it's a game of decent quality if you like seeing a variety of passing and how contrasting formations match up.
25 minWe've not seen a lot of Costa, either. He's currently patrolling Romeu rather than sitting on the shoulder of the last defender. It's an interesting ploy from Conte but he has seen that a lot of the play is going through the former Barcelona prospect.
29 minSHOT! Tadic wins a free kick for Southampton after drawing the foul out of Alonso but it's not really in shooting territory for the Serbian. He decides to go for it anyway and forces a solid stop out of Courtois, who tips the ball wide for a corner.
32 minSHOT! It was pinball in the Chelsea penalty area where the Blues backline were forced to deal with a number of high balls but they were soon on the counter-attack through Hazard. The Belgian couldn't find Pedro but Moses picked up the pieces and had a shot deflected over the crossbar.
35 minChelsea have started to have a lot more joy through Moses over the last few minutes but the end product has been lacking. He's starting to be given too much space though and if Southampton don't stop that, he could take advantage.
38 minSHOT! Hazard will be disappointed that he hasn't done more with this. After using the run of Costa as a distraction, he put himself into prime position to curl the ball into the bottom corner but he sent his shot far too close to Forster who was able to make a simple save.
41 minCHANCE! Another chance for Chelsea, this time for Costa. Matic won possession in the middle of the pitch before playing the striker through on goal. He tried to find the far corner but it ended up being straight at Forster, who managed to get his legs in the way.
45 minThere will be one minute of added-on time.
45+1 minHALF TIME: Southampton 0-1 Chelsea
4.48pmThe half-time whistle goes at St Mary's and after an uneventful half, Chelsea lead thanks to that early goal from Hazard. Southampton are well in this game, however, and Puel will take confidence from his team having the better of possession.
46 minSouthampton get us back underway on the South Coast. No changes for either side.
47 minSouthampton are straight onto the attack but Chelsea soon make their way up the other end of the pitch to earn a corner. The ball finds Luiz at the back post but his cross back into the box is over-hit and Southampton regain possession.
50 minWhat a touch from Fonte! Hazard is about to tap Chelsea into a 2-0 lead but the centre-back slides in to flick Alonso's cross behind for a corner. How important could that be?!
53 minSHOT! Chelsea seem to be focusing their efforts on rapid counter-attacks and they could easily be 2-0 ahead here. They break in numbers but despite having men over, Alonso decides to shoot from 25 yards and his attempt goes several yards wide of the far post.
55 minGOAL! Southampton 0-2 Chelsea (Costa)
55 minIt's 2-0 now and it's a screamer from Costa! Hazard wanted to play a one-two with his teammate but Costa had other ideas. After drifting inside, he unleashed an unstoppable effort from around 22 yards which was always finding the far corner of Forster's net. That's his eighth goal of the season.
58 minCHANCE! The same combination almost create a third for Chelsea who aren't settling for just the two. Hazard's low cross towards the near post finds the Spaniard but he miscues his shot over the bar.
61 minSUBSTITUTION! Puel has no option but to turn to the club's record signing. Boufal takes the place of Clasie.
63 minCHANCE! How haven't Chelsea scored here?! Forster spills a Moses shot and it causes mayhem inside the Southampton penalty area. Costa should score but he passes to Pedro but he too takes too much time on the ball and Southampton managed to get bodies in front of the ball.
67 minSouthampton continue to probe but you feel like they need something special to get back into this match. Chelsea look comfortable but as we know, anything can happen in the Premier League.
69 minCHANCE! Southampton work a neat move towards the left flank and it ends with Bertrand finding Austin. However, the forward can only head over from around eight yards out, despite beating Luiz in the air.
71 minCHANCE! Hazard fancies his chances of pulling off a similar shot to that of Costa but despite being much closer to goal than his teammate, he puts his shot too close to Forster, who again fumbles but claims at the second opportunity.
76 minWOODWORK! Southampton almost halve the deficit when a cross from the right is headed onto the top of the crossbar by Davis. It was Luiz who got the final touch but it would have gone down as Davis's goal had it gone in.
77 minSUBSTITUTIONS! We've got three substitutions - one for Chelsea and two for Southampton. Pedro is replaced by Willian for the Blues, while Southampton introduced McQueen and Hojbjerg for Bertrand and Tadic.
82 minLess than 10 minutes to go now and Chelsea are within touching distance of a fourth successive win in the Premier League. Title challengers? You better believe it. That said, they still have work to do in this game.
84 minSHOT! Moses looks a real threat in this Chelsea lineup and he nearly scores a third for his side after cutting inside onto his left foot, only to see Forster pull off a solid save.
86 minSUBSTITUTION! Conte has decided to give Moses a rest for the final few minutes and instead give Ivanovic a return from injury.
88 minSUBSTITUTION! Conte quickly makes his third alteration with Michy Batshuayi replacing Costa. He's put in another shift for his team this afternoon.
90 minThere will be three minutes of added-on time.
90+1 minCHANCE! Matic has been fantastic today and a drag-back inside the penalty area sets up Willian to get a shot on goal. However, he completely miscues his effort and it goes wide of the near post.
90+3 minFULL TIME: Southampton 0-2 Chelsea
5.53pmThe full-time whistle goes at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea have eased to another victory in the Premier League without conceding a goal. Unlike last season, Antonio Conte's men look very much like title challengers.
5.54pmThat will be all from Sports Mole for this game. Thank you for joining us this afternoon! Goodbye for now.
