Southampton’s hopes of remaining in the top four suffered a blow as they succumbed to a superb late goal by Jonjo Shelvey. In the 82nd minute of a match characterised mostly by Swansea City’s diligent defending and Southampton’s impotent dominance, Shelvey capitalised on a rare attack by the Welsh side to ram a shot into the net from 25 yards.
The home side’s exasperation at that turn of events probably lay behind the reckless challenge that led to Ryan Bertrand being sent off before the end to compound the misery of Ronald Koeman’s team.
This could have been billed as a meeting between two of the most shrewdly run clubs in Britain, each having demonstrated in recent years their ability to continue progressing smoothly no matter the turbulence they encounter. And each needed to give a further demonstration of that aptitude here.
Swansea were seeking a positive result to ease concerns after two heavy defeats in a row, the sale of Wilfried Bony to Manchester City, the loss of Ki Sung-yueng to international duty, the suspension of Gylfi Sigurdsson and the injury to Wayne Routledge, four absences that meant the Welsh team travelled to the home of the Premier League's most secure defence without players who had contributed almost 80 percent of their top-flight goals this season.
Southampton, who were also with key players because of injury, craved a victory that would narrow the gap to City and Chelsea at the top of the table and not give any encouragement to the formidable posse gaining momentum behind Koeman's team, with Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all winning this weekend.
Southampton started as they meant to go on, forcing Swansea straight on to the back foot. The home team could have been in front after six minutes following nimble work down the right by Dusan Tadic and Nathaniel Clyne. The right-back whacked an excellent low cross into the danger area and James Ward-Prowse met it 12 yards out, but the goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski reacted sharply to turn away the midfielder's low shot.
As ever, the raids by Southampton’s full-backs and wingers were proving a regular menace but in the 13th minute, after almost constant pressure by the hosts, Swansea nearly ambushed them on the counterattack. Shelvey, who was deployed in a more advanced role than usual because of Sigurdsson’s unavailability, flipped a dainty pass through to Bafétimbi Gomis, who took one touch before flashing a fine half-volleyed shot inches wide from the edge of the box.
Seven minutes later Shelvey found Gomis with a quick free-kick and the striker forced a save from Fraser Forster; it turned out that a goal would not have been awarded anyway as Gomis had ventured fractionally offside, but the move still served to warn that Swansea were not necessarily a blunt instrument even if they had been further depleted after only 15 minutes when Marvin Emnes hobbled off injured.
There was no question, however, that the visitors’ priority was on defending. After conceding eight goals in their last two matches they stationed ten players behind the ball as often as possible. Southampton found penetration difficult despite dominating the remainder of the first half. They frequently worked their way into crossing positions but Swansea generally dealt well with the deliveries, Ashley Williams, in particular, shackling Graziano Pellè. However, Tadic should have poked Eljero Elia’s cross into the net from six yards on the half-hour mark despite being hassled by Neil Taylor.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first. Ward-Prowse, Steven Davis and Harrison Reed were all busy and tidy in central midfield as Southampton continued to hog possession but none of them found the sort of drive or inspiration that Victor Wanyama or Morgan Schneiderlin would have been expected to provide if they were not missing through injury. Indeed, Shelvey was the first to show such qualities, as he stormed forward from deep after 60 minutes and rasped a low shot against the post from 25 yards.
That provoked an immediate response from Southampton, but neither Pellè’s header nor Ward-Prowse’s shot from 18 yards looked likely to beat Fabianski.
Koeman replaced Reed with Sadio Mané after 63 minutes in an effort to give his team more pep and unpredictability. But Swansea’s resistance remained steadfast and eight minutes from time they lashed out with the counter-punch the home fans had been dreading, Shelvey smashing a superb shot into the net from long-range.
Swansea held on to their lead jealously, Williams twice clearing off the line from Mané before the end. Bertrand, who had been typically immaculate for most of the match, then got himself sent off for leaping into a tackle on Modou Barrow.
Pellè had a chance to mitigate the ill-effects of this game in stoppage time but blasted way over the bar from 10 yards.
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