**Enzo Maresca savoured the fans’ chants of “Chelsea are back” during the 5-1 thrashing of Southampton which lifted the Blues to second in the Premier League table.**
The result continued the team’s excellent form under Maresca, who has presided over a substantial upturn in the club’s fortunes since taking over as head coach last summer.
And the away supporters made their joy clear throughout a one-sided game at St Mary’s.
“It was a very good feeling because you can see they are happy – and that’s our target,” said Maresca.
“We work every day to keep them happy. Tonight it was a very good feeling, especially that they can see Chelsea is back. This is important.
“The results help a lot and calm down the noise around the club. It’s a good feeling to see the fans happy after the last two years when many things happened. You can see now the feeling from them is good.”
Axel Disasi put Chelsea ahead early on and Joe Aribo quickly equalised, before goals from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke before half-time.
Cole Palmer added Chelsea’s fourth and Jadon Sancho got a late fifth.
Bottom side Southampton played most of the match with 10 men after captain Jack Stephens was bizarrely sent off six minutes before the interval for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair at a corner.
“We created so many chances. We could have scored more, but five goals is enough,” Maresca said.