Southampton recorded their first Premier League win of the season against Swansea thanks to a goal from substitute Charlie Austin following his Europa League brace against Prague on Thursday.

It was a very frustrating first-half for Southampton who could’ve scored multiple goals within the first 45 minutes. I was very impressed with the link up play between Tadic, Redmond and Long in the final-third which was something that needed improvement.
Saints could’ve gone ahead through Dusan Tadic who had the ball fall at his feet after a mistake from Swansea goalkeeper, Lukas Fabianksi but the Serbian was ruled offside.

Mike Jones didn’t have the best of refereeing performances and, when Shane Long was brought down in the opponent’s box everyone thought a penalty was to be given, but instead Long was booked for diving. A poor decision from the referee.

However, the best chance came to Nathan Redmond who had another chance or two to score but after cutting onto his right foot, in front of an empty goal blasted the ball over the crossbar.

After a frustrating first 45 minutes for Southampton, they came out of the interval with determination to get the goal they deserved. Long was set to score until his shot was cleared off of the line by Kyle Naughton. He also should’ve had a goal count when Nathan Redmond crossed to him across goal as the Irishman tapped in the ball but Redmond was unfairly ruled offside.

As Charlie Austin replaced Long, he made an immediate impact by heading the ball well but his effort bounced off of the crossbar. However, Southampton did get their reward for their fantastic efforts through Austin who smashed home giving, Fabianski no chance.

Southampton held on but had a late effort from Swansea saved from Engaland’s number one, Fraser Forster who got down low to make a fantastic save against Gylfi Sigurdson meaning Southampton got their first win of the new season and a first league clean-sheet since playing Swansea themselves back in February.

I didn’t think there were too many fantastic individual performances but my man of the match has to go to Dusan Tadic. Despite looking tired late on after playing on Thursday night, he was by far the most creative player for me and should’ve been gifted with at least an assist, if not a goal for his efforts.

Photo: Action Images

landerwal added 14:07 - Sep 20 Like the previous two home league games and against Sparta Prague Saints were the better side and in the Swansea games created enough chances to wrap up the match by half time. The defence is now getting tighter as Romeu is more than filling in the gap left by Wanyama. We now have a plethora of midfielders all playing well and were outplaying the Swansea midfield for most of the match. It is only in attack we seem to be lacking but a few more results like the last two will I 'm sure instill the confidence needed for a good season. Remember, despite all the plaudits for our 6th place I last season,at the beginning of 2016 we were 13th in the league.

1

Southampton Polls