Saints came up against a Chelsea side who looked the real deal and it turned out to be a game too far as Saints lost for the first time in seven Premier League games.
Saints didn't play badly, but they didn't do justice to themselves either as they came up against a Chelsea side who Dave Merrington in his commentary described as the best that Saints have faced all season and i wouldn't disagree.
Saints came into the game with a raft of players either injured or coming back from injury and this meant that we weren't as sharp in the two areas that really mattered, at the back and up front.
It didn't help that we gifted Chelsea a goal after barely five minutes had been played, Eden Hazard allowed to start the move in the midfield and then run unchecked to receive a return ball, Steven Davis got back but the Chelsea man turned him and fired a low ball through the legs of Fraser Forster, a shot which the keeper will feel disappointed that he let in.
Saints huffed and puffed and worked hard, indeed they had 55% of the possession, but you felt that this suited Chelsea who were able to sit back and attack quickly and ruthlessly.
They could have gone in at the break with a bigger advantage but Forster who had a mixed game, kept them in it with a couple of smart saves.
But if second half Saints thought they ight get back in it, ten minutes after the break Chelsea had a two goal cushion, Diego Costa firing in a curling shot which left Forster no chance as it went in millimetres from the post.
It was still a contest, Charlie Austin had the ball in the net but was given offside, the Saints supporters disagreed, but TV replays showed that Austin was fractionally off and the linesman got it spot on, that perhaps was Saints luck on the day, it was a tight decision, no more than a couple of inches in it, on another day we might have got the break.
Now Saints have to go again, the good news is that we will start to get key players back from injury and this will give Claude Puel more options, Chelsea exposed our weaknesses but we won't play a team so good and in full flow as the Blues were on Sunday very often.
We now start a run of games between now and Xmas that are very winnable and will decide what direction our season takes in the New Year.
We should be confident that we can make it an exciting second half of the season, this game showed that even with a side that is stretched to the limit injury wise and because of that not as fresh as Puel would hope, that we can compete with the top sides in this division.
This is a set back but it is not a fatal blow, we march on !