Southampton 1 Swansea City 0
Claude Puel’s wait for his first Premier League win as Southampton manager is over. Charlie Austin’s second league goal for the club was enough to condemn Swansea City to defeat and shake off any unwelcome records, namely the thought of the Frenchman failing to win any of his opening five league matches. Saints ditched another unwanted statistic too, securing their first clean sheet in 17 top-flight matches, largely thanks to Fraser Forster’s giant right-hand denying Gylfi Sigurdsson a late equaliser.
Puel, who replaced Ronald Koeman in the summer, may just have learned his lesson. His Southampton side were supposed to be invigorated by their Europa League win over Sparta Prague – their first of the season – in midweek but they took an age to get out of first gear here. Puel might regret tinkering with that winning formula by making six changes from Thursday night.
Southampton started slowly, as the Swansea winger Mo Barrow began to stretch his legs, drawing fouls from Steven Davis and Shane Long. The visitors looked bright, with the former Southampton midfielder and current Swans captain Jack Cork twice going close from Sigurdsson’s set-pieces. Barrow’s speed caused problems for Cédric Soares and the Gambia winger did brilliantly to find Fernando Llorente in the box with a whipped cross, only for the striker to fall under pressure from José Fonte at the crucial moment.
Southampton struggled to gain control of a match that was slowly getting away from them until the final five minutes of the first half. Virgil van Dijk forced a smart save from Lukas Fabianski, after his header from Davis’s corner while Shane Long’s frustrations were told when he was booked for diving, after fishing for a foul from Swansea’s Federico Fernández.
Puel may regret comparing Nathan Redmond to Thierry Henry too. Puel had talked up the qualities of Redmond. Redmond scored against Watford on the opening day of the season but he has not found the net since. Seven goals in 42 matches does not read too well but Redmond was again preferred to Charlie Austin, who scored twice against Sparta.
Given another audition to impress, the winger-cum-striker badly fluffed his lines. Dusan Tadic – again one of Saints’ better performers – knocked the ball past the Swansea left-back Stephen Kingsley, before sliding the ball across goal for a waiting Redmond, who checked inside before driving his effort high over the bar. It was not exactly Row Z but frustrated home supporters began to sing the name of Austin.
Kingsley was replaced by Angel Rangel at half-time with Kyle Naughton switching flanks, something of testament to Tadic’s display. The Wales left-back Neil Taylor, substituted during the first-half against Chelsea seven days ago, was not included in Guidolin’s travelling 18-man squad, although is expected to play against Manchester City on Wednesday.
It was Naughton’s interception that proved vital three minutes into the second half, when Long looked to have poked the ball home from a tight angle only for the defender to clear off the line. The striker was out again less than 60 seconds later, when he tapped home after the offside flag had already been raised. Saints were beginning to click.
In search of that elusive goal, Austin was called upon – in place of Long –and the script already written. Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg, the midfielder acquired from Bayern Munich over the summer, also entered, in place of Jordy Clasie, another who did not feature in midweek. Austin was the centre of attention, and was immediately found by a fine Ryan Bertrand cross. The striker, a bit-part player so far under Puel, then hit the bar from Redmond’s low cross just after the hour mark. Van Dijk and then Davis both stabbed at goal before eventually Austin rattled home. Jordi Amat, the Swansea defender, failed to properly deal with Tadic’s cross, slicing the ball into the path of Austin, who this time ensured the net rippled emphatically.
(Guardian service)
