Mark Hughes’ team continued its Premier League unbeaten run to seven and now back-to-back victories, coming out on top against Southampton at St. Mary’s on Saturday.
Bojan Krkic’s goal 10 minutes in was the difference between the two sides after the Spaniard flicked home a cross from Erik Pieters. Xherdan Shaqiri was guilty of missing a few definitive chances and Ibrahim Afellay had an effort cleared off the line late on.
Southampton had a far stronger second half but were unable to find an equaliser. Ronald Koeman conceded that his side was not good enough in the first half, starting slowly and not creating any clear cut chances to get back into the game later on.
Southampton
Maarten Stekelenburg – 6: Did not really have many saves to make and was well beaten by Bojan’s winner.
Ryan Bertrand – 6.5: Worked hard and attempted to surge forward but ultimately had no telling play.
Virgil van Dijk – 5.5: Probably the most disappointing outing of his young Saints career. Poor positioning and did not deal with opposition attacks.
José Fonte – 6.5: Seemed the best performer in the Saints back four, covering his central defensive partner as best he could.
Cédric – 6: Made no real impression on the match and his usual incisive runs to create space out wide were absent.
Victor Wanyama – 6: Made a few good tackles but was not dominant as his side needed in the midfield battle.
Steven Davis – 6: Did not provide the run and passing in midfield that was required of him.
Dusan Tadić – 6: The slick, smooth play that has been characteristic of his recent form did not carry over into this game and his crossing was not clinical.
Jordy Clasie – 5: Very poor performance from the Dutchman. Was not creative and lost the ball far too often.
Shane Long – 6.5: Probably the best attacking performer coming back from injury.
Graziano Pellè – 5.5: Failed to dominate the defenders and was a passenger for large parts of this match, though the service to him was also poor.
Substitutes
James Ward-Prowse – 6: Was not really able to influence the game greatly after his late introduction but put in decent set piece delivery.
Sadio Mané – 5.5: Unable to do enough to create any clear cut chances for his side.
Juanmi – N/A: Replaced Cédric in the 85th minute.
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