Southampton 2-1 Everton: Premier League – Three Match Takeaways

Despite a late fightback which stirred a few nerves for the home support, Southampton took advantage of a poor visiting Everton side at St Mary’s to secure consecutive league victories for the second time this season.

Marco Silva’s Everton came into the clash in mixed form, having beaten Saints’ south coast neighbours Bournemouth in unconvincing fashion last week but also smarting from recent defeats to Brighton and Leicester as well as a ruthless thrashing inflicted by Spurs. Although Gylfi Sigurdsson made the scoreline look close, in reality Southampton could have been out of sight but for the woodwork and a couple of inspired Pickford saves.

Second half goals from the impressive James Ward-Prowse and an own goal from the unfortunate Lucas Digne secured the win for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men. Having taken 13 points from his first 8 games, the Austrian must be delighted with the impact he has had since arriving in December. If this form can continue, Southampton will be hopeful of climbing up to the safe haven of mid table, thus saving a repeat of the stressful end to last year’s campaign. Here is what we can take away from the game.