Chelsea racked up the highest amount of expected goals (xG) for an away team in Premier League history during their5-1 thrashing of Southampton on Wednesday night.
Goals from Axel Disasi, Christopher Nkunku, Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho helped the Blues secure a third victory in a row in the top flight, becoming the division's highest scorers so far this season with 31.
They were dominant for much of the encounter at St Mary's, taking a 3-1 lead before Jack Stephens was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair shortly before half-time. They then completed the rout in the second half.
It was an away performance for the ages, with Opta reporting Chelsea managed the highest xG by an away side in a single Premier League game since they started recording such data.
Enzo Maresca's side are second behind league leaders Liverpool, with the Reds' advantage now only seven points after they were held by Newcastle United in a 3-3 draw at St James' Park.
FBL-ENG-PR-SOUTHAMPTON-CHELSEA
Chelsea were clinical against Southampton / GLYN KIRK/GettyImages
Position Date Team Result xG
1. 04/12/2024 Chelsea Southampton 1-5 Chelsea 5.1
2. 12/02/2022 Manchester City Norwich City 0-4 Manchester City 4.6
3. 25/10/2019 Leicester City Southampton 0-9 Leicester City 4.6
4. 11/07/2020 Leicester City Aston Villa 1-4 Leicester City 4.6
5. 29/09/2024 Tottenham Hotspur Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur 4.4
Statistics viaFBREF so results vary from Opta.
Chelsea's ruthless performance at Southampton saw them take top spot for highest xG by an away team, usurping the 4.6 Manchester City produced during a thumping of Norwich City in 2022.
Leicester City feature twice in the top five, scoring nearly double their 4.6 xG during a historic 9-0 win against Southampton back in 2019 and slightly underperforming the same figure when they triumphed away at Aston Villa a little under a year later.
Tottenham Hotspur won at Manchester United earlier this season with an xG of 4.4, but the scoreline was only 3-0 after strikes from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke.
It's Spurs who are up next for Chelsea, with manager Maresca hoping for a similar result to the 4-1 victory they secured against their nine-player opposition in N17 last season.
READ THE LATEST CHELSEA NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP