CHELSEA MOVED TO within two points of the Premier League summit as Marc Cucurella continued his remarkable ascent to score in a 2-1 win against Brentford at Stamford Bridge.
The defender was seemingly a symbol of Chelsea’s botched recruitment for much of his first two seasons after moving from Brighton, but like his team-mates this season he has been rejuvenated as Enzo Maresca watched his side without question insert themselves into the title race.
The head coach has repeatedly insisted his young squad are not ready to challenge but this was their fifth league victory in a row and, despite Fabio Carvalho striking the bar at 1-0 after Cucurella’s opener and Bryan Mbeumo jangling nerves with a goal at the start of seven added minutes, it was as commanding a one-goal win as could be hoped for.
Nicolas Jackson, another player once pilloried but whose name rang out around the ground, had earlier netted Chelsea’s crucial second goal 10 minutes from time.
 James Maddison. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo
Tottenham ran riot on the south coast with James Maddison on target twice to earn Ange Postecoglou a much-needed Premier League victory by a 5-0 score, which only increased the pressure on Southampton head coach Russell Martin.
Spurs were winless in five ahead of this clash at St Mary’s and without nine players, but scored three times inside 14 minutes.
Maddison started the rout after 36 seconds before captain Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski struck in quick succession.
The Saints’ faithful could have been forgiven for getting flashbacks of the 9-0 loss to Leicester in 2019 and turned their anger on under-fire Martin.
Postecoglou’s men were not finished there, with Pape Sarr able to grab a fourth in the 25th minute before Maddison added another in first-half stoppage-time.
It failed to stop Tottenham’s noisy away support repeatedly calling for chairman Daniel Levy to leave the club, but this result – on the club’s first return to Southampton since Antonio Conte’s extraordinary rant in 2023 – moved them within four points of fifth-placed Manchester City.
This was a battle between two head coaches wedded to their attacking philosophy but in desperate need of a victory and Postecoglou handed first league starts to Djed Spence and teenager Lucas Bergvall.
Amid a poor run of form, discontent amongst the Tottenham fanbase had grown with frustration aimed at chairman Levy and chants for him to leave occurred immediately after kick-off.