Southampton 2-1 Everton: Premier League – Player Ratings
By Erik Franzo
Southampton moved into 15th in the Premier League table while grabbing their second home win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Everton.
Danny Ings was back from injury, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made a heroic return to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s starting eleven on Saturday afternoon. However, it was not an entirely different side that played 120 minutes in the FA Cup on Wednesday. James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu were back in the centre of the pitch and Jannik Vestergaard and Jack Stephens were familiar faces in defence.
The first half was not awe-inspiring, but Southampton had more definitive chances to take the lead. Everton’s goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford was forced into a quality save from a Saints corner and Andre Gomes nearly put one into the back of his own net. All the while the Southampton defence remaining stout.
James Ward-Prowse opened the game up with the type of goal Saints fans are not accustomed to. Grabbing the second ball off a challenged header, and driving the ball straight to goal, superbly finishing in the left corner from 20 yards out.
Nathan Redmond was fortunate to see the second goal slip in. Not seeing Everton left-back Lucas Digne cut out his attack, only to punch the ball passed Pickford for a 2-0 Saints lead.
Of course Southampton could not make it cut and dry…
Shane Long and Jack Stephens were given opportunities to make it three-nil before Gylfi Sigurdsson would pull one back. Forcing the Saints into a panicky extra time period that lasted eight minutes. Fortunately for Southampton, they were able to see out the victory and claim all three points against a toothless Everton.
There were a number of outstanding performances from the Southampton players, but keep reading to see who got a perfect rating from the match!