Southampton 2-1 Norwich City: Saints grind out back-to-back home wins

Southampton made it 7 points from 9 in the Premier League after a narrow 2-1 win over Norwich on Wednesday.

First-half goals from the red hot Danny Ings and Ryan Bertrand put Saints in command after a dominant showing in the opening 45.

However, they had to hold firm at the back in the latter stages after Teemu Pukki halved the deficit and set up a nervy finish.

The hosts at St Mary’s set the tone in the first-half with their pressing of their visiting opponents.

Norwich insisted on playing out from the back and were unable to build any attacks of note with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side pushing them back consistently.

Saints took the lead in the 22nd minute and it was the goalscoring heroes of Saturday who combined.

A free-kick was won in a promising position on the left and James Ward-Prowse’s delivery towards the front post was flicked in off the head of Danny Ings – the striker’s tenth goal of the season in all competitions highlighting his importance to his side currently.

It was 2-0 shortly before half-time and it was another Ward-Prowse set-piece that created it.

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Shane Long flicked a corner delivery onto the far post where Ryan Bertrand had ghosted in unmarked, and the full-back had the simple task of side-footing home from just yards out.

Norwich knew that they needed to respond after the break and they did just that as Teemu Pukki forced a flying save from Alex McCarthy with seconds gone of the second-half.

An all important third goal for Saints looked like it wasn’t going to come when Danny Ings spun brilliantly but volleyed wide inside the area, and a nervy finish to the game was set up as Pukki found the net with 25 minutes remaining.

The Finnish international was slid in through an gap in the Saints defence and smashed a shot in at the near post with his side’s first real effort on goal.

Saints repelled numerous attacks from their rivals at the bottom of the table and there was still time for Norwich to create a golden chance in stoppage-time that could have saved them a precious point, but full-back Sam Byram blazed wildly over.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side now climb out of the Premier League relegation zone and will be looking to continue their good form in the upcoming games to get themselves further clear.

Saints team: McCarthy, Cedric, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, Hojbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Redmond, Djenepo (Romeu 72), Ings (Adams 77), Long (Yoshida 85)

Norwich team: Krul, Aarons, Zimmermann, Godfrey, Byram, Amadou (Stiepermann 45), Trybull (Tettey 45), McLean, Cantwell (Buendia 83), Hernandez, Pukki