Southampton's 10 Best Premier League Victories Ever

5. Chelsea 2-4 Southampton - 01.01.2002

Southampton had begun the 2001/02 season on relegation form. The switch of failing manager Stuart Gray for former Coventry boss Gordon Strachan had seen a turnaround in the club's form, but still a trip to Chelsea on New Year's Day was always going to be a tough challenge. Southampton had a record of 6 wins to 12 losses going into the game, while Claudio Ranieri's expensively assembled title challengers had only lost three times all season and only once at home. Saints had taken the lead through Beattie, but when Eidur Gudjohnsen, having already scored the equaliser, teed up Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to beat the offside trap and give Chelsea the lead on the stroke of half time it seemed that the Blues had the game wrapped up. Having only conceded 8 goals in the previous 14 games and no more than two in any one game that season, Chelsea could not have expected the reaction of Southampton after the break. As Chelsea took their foot off the gas, Saints piled on the pressure, turning a one goal deficit into a two goal lead as Marian Pahars ran round John Terry to equalise and then went on to set up Beattie for the fourth after Chris Marsden had given Saints the lead. The win put Saints three points clear of the relegation zone and gave a real boost to their season. They would go on to finish 11th, while Chelsea's inconsistency saw them slip to 6th. Southampton Starting XI: Jones, Dodd, Bridge, Lundekvam, Williams, Marsden, Svensson, Delap, Telfer, Beattie, Pahars