In what was described as one of Mauricio Pellegrino’s most important games of the season, Southampton slumped a 1-1 with promoted side Huddersfield.
The match was met with much intrigue, with it being the Argentine’s first reverse fixture since taking charge of the club. His critics have called him ‘tactically naive’ at the best of times, so the supporters were keen to see how he set up against opposition he had already seen in the flesh for 90 minutes.
The Saints went into the game without two of their most important players however – both Ryan Bertrand and Cedric Soares were injured in the loss to Chelsea last weekend.
In their place, Matt Targett and Jack Stephens started, and whilst both played solid games, neither had the same attacking influence as the Saints’ first-choice full-backs do.
Nonetheless Southampton took the lead against the run of play half-way through the first 45 – Charlie Austin getting onto the end of a Wesley Hoedt flick-on at the far post.
The Saints started the second half brightly and had enough chances to put the game to bed – neither were taken and Laurent Depoitre brought the game level for the Terriers just after the hour mark.
Since the final whistle though, the FA have retrospectively charged Charlie Austin for his challenge on Huddersfield stopper Jonas Lossl, potentially leaving the Saints without their top scorer for a few games.
Nonetheless, here are the Saints’ three standout players from yesterday’s draw.