THE pressure has lifted from the shoulders of Blues manager Thomas Tuchel with the nation’s attention focused on the ding-dong battles between Liverpool and Manchester City.

And that just suits Tuchel fine as his team basks in a remarkable 6-0 away win on the south coast – only the fifth time in the Premier League that Chelsea have achieved the feat.

The fact that the Southampton v Chelsea match came well down the pecking order on Match of the Day was surprising, but demonstrated how the heat over the club's rumbling ownership war has eased in recent days.

The Blues go into Sunday afternoon’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley against Palace knowing that sanctions have eased and supporters can attend their second home in vast numbers. The game is also live on ITV.

It promises to be a humdinger. Palace’s rapid-break style is similar to Brentford’s, and that 4-1 home defeat to the Bees still smarts.

But the Eagles will be without Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher, who is barred from facing his parent club despite playing in every Palace cup game up to now.

For the Blues there is the curious resurgence of Timo Werner to factor into the equation. Chelsea’s non-striking striker has suddenly come good with a brace against the Saints after striking the woodwork three times.

But that show was eclipsed by Mason Mount, who also netted twice and whose freedom and fluidity was in a class of its own.

Mount is expected to help run the show at Wembley for Chelsea in a London derby to savour.