Holders Chelsea started reaping instantly from their investment in Senegal’s Demba Ba as he banged in a brace on his debut for the Blues this evening in the third round of the English FA Cup. Chelsea crushed homers Southampton 5-1, courtesy of goals from Ba, Nigeria’s Victor Moses and Serbian Branislav Ivanovic.

Ba, who moved from Newcastle United just two days ago for £7m, drew the visitors level in 35 minutes after finishing off a brilliant move involving Eden Hazard and Juan Mata. Southampton had taken the lead through Jay Rodriguez.

Chelsea went in front after Victor Moses, who is expected to jet out for the Nigerian pre-Africa Cup of Nations Camp tonight, exchanged passes with Ashley Cole and fired home on the stroke of half-time.

Ivanovic extended the lead on the restart with Ba (see photo) extended the lead with his second goal, with Frank Lampard completing the rout with a well taken penalty.

With the look of things, it appears that under-achieving Fernando Torres will have to do time on the bench as Ba and Moses appear too hot to handle at the moment.

Other Results

Aston Villa 2-1 Ipswich

Bolton 2-2 Sunderland

Crystal Palace 0-0 Stoke

Fulham 1-1 Blackpool

Hull 0-1 Leyton Orient

Luton 1-0 Wolves

Man City 2-0 Watford

Middlesbrough 3-1 Hastings Utd

Nottingham Forest 1 Oldham 3

Southampton 1-4 Chelsea

Tottenham 3-0 Coventry

Wigan 1-1 Bournemouth