A brace from Graziano Pellè was enough to see Southampton travel away from the Britannia with all three points after a tight encounter.
It was ninth up against eighth in this clash with both sides looking to secure their position and push further up the table. It was the Saints who looked the more dangerous early, however, with a smart save from Jack Butland all that stopped Pellè from opening the scoring inside the opening 10 minutes.
The Italian striker could not be kept out for long and headed home from a corner just a minute later managing to end his scoring drought. Pellè grabbed a second before the break and had Dusan Tadić taken his chance the Saints could have been three up, and the game would have been all but over at the half.
Stoke City’s leading goalscorer Marko Arnautović managed found the back-of-the-net to keep the pressure on in the second period, but ultimately the home side were unable to mount a comeback. The win sees the Potters remain in ninth while the team from St. Mary’s rise to seventh with eight games still left to play.
Pellè breaks his drought
With a season plagued with injury and surrendering his place in the team to firstly Shane Long then the new signing of Charlie Austin pressure was well and truly weighing down the shoulders of Graziano Pellè. The striker responded brilliantly in this match though, grabbing a brace that ended a scoring drought stretching way back to November of last year.
The Italian international looked lively and dangerous from the outside and his strong frontman play were a highlight in the attacking third. With Pellè on form Long can easily remain part of the side just being pushed out to the wing, but how Austin could be slotted into the side is a different problem. With both strikers facing injury problems Ronald Koeman is yet to really have to face the issue of having the fully fit option of both his centre forwards so it is a little unclear who he would prefer.
Pellè vs Austin
On the one hand Pellè has proven himself a goalscorer grabbing 16 goal across all competitions last season plus a further 11 this time around. He has however been prone to patchy play – scoring in bursts then seeing his name absent for the scoresheet for several consecutive games. Austin, on the other hand, never seems far from a goal when he is playing the issue is his injury problems see him play not nearly enough to base a consistent game plan around him. The Englishman has already faced two injury issues since joining Southampton in January and played in just 16 of 27 Championship matches before making the move midyear.
With injury seeming to have made his decisions for him so far Koeman may not be forced to decide who the number one striker is. But with both looking to be returning to full fitness the Dutch manager may have a dilemma on his hands.
Potters still aiming high?
Stoke manager Mark Hughes recently told the Daily Star that his side are not hitting too many headlines but are still aiming for European football.
“We’re just getting on with our business and we like it like that. I’d be happy if the season came to an end and people were saying ‘Where did they come from?”
Sitting now just four points behind sixth placed Manchester United, who have a game in hand, and not having a mortifyingly difficult run home it seems as though the Potters have every chance of securing a first soirée into European football.
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