Stuart Armstrong was felled on the edge of the Chelsea box and a half-second later, at the other end of Stamford Bridge, Southampton’s pocket of support began the celebrations. They cheered the foul as if it was a goal. They knew what was coming.
So it was with a whip of his right foot and a whiff of inevitability that James Ward-Prowse curled the ball up and over the wall and beyond the stretching fingers of Kepa Arrizabalaga.
One step closer to David Beckham’s Premier League record. One giant leap for Southampton, who remain on the foot of the Premier League but might well have breathed new life into their season.