Chelsea jumped back into the top four with a dominant display at home to lowly Southampton, while the race for the European places got even tighter in an action-packed line-up of mid-week Premier League fixtures.

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Chelsea did exactly as was expected from them with the Blues putting the foot down at Stamford Bridge to score three first half goals via Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Levi Colwill on their way to a 4-0 win.

Marc Cucurella added the fourth in the 78th minute in what was a much-needed three points, and a handy goal difference boost, for Chelsea after losses in their previous two league outings, away to Aston Villa and Brighton.

The comfortable display lifted Chelsea two points clear of Manchester City and Newcastle, who both play on Thursday morning Australian time in huge clashes with Tottenham and Liverpool respectively, into fourth place on 46 points.

But the top half of the table has become so close that there are only four points separating Chelsea and tenth placed Villa.

The Villans are in the Champions League Round of 16, but were left kicking themselves in this mid-week fixture, falling 4-1 away to 12th placed Crystal Palace.

Morgan Rogers levelled the scores for Villa seven minutes after half time with a superb finish that was preceded by a stunning pirouette, but apart from a disallowed Rogers goal due to Ollie Watkins being off-side in the build up shortly before the break, it was all Palace.

Ismaila Sarr celebrated his 27th birthday with a brace, scoring the opener with a tap-in after a scramble in the box from a corner and sealing the result with Palace’s third with a 71st minute volley.

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s strike to put Palace back in the front was the best goal of the quarter as the Frenchman blasted home a left-foot pearler after the ball spilt to him near the edge of the penalty box.

Eddie Nketiah then rubbed further salt into Villa’s wounds with a goal in added time, his first league goal for Palace.

Meanwhile, Brighton dealt a significant blow to Bournemouth with a 2-1 win in the south coast derby.

Last week Bournemouth were fifth on the table but the Cherries have slipped down to seventh having lost their last two matches, only ahead of Brighton on goal difference, on 43 points, one shy of City and Newcastle.

The Seagulls have now won three in a row to storm into top four contention.

The heroes this time out were Joao Pedro, who converted a penalty in the 12th minute, and Danny Welbeck, who scored the winner with 15 minutes remaining after Bournemouth’s Justin Kluivert levelled proceedings with a pearler from outside the box in the 61st minute.

Former Manchester United and Arsenal striker Welbeck came off the bench and showed every ounce of his experience with a class finish across the goalkeeper Kepa into the far corner of the net.

Fulham also kept in touch in the race for the European places next season with a 2-1 win away at 17th placed Wolves.

Ryan Sessegnon opened the scoring for Fulham in the first minute of the match, before the relegation-threatened hosts hit back through Joao Gomes in the 18th minute.

Rodrigo Muniz’s goal two minutes after half time proved to be the winner, however, as Fulham sit ninth on 42 points, ahead of Villa on goal difference.