Southampton 0-1 West Ham: Premier League – Three Match Takeaways

Inevitably, Southampton made the easy look impossible against an industrious West Ham side, proving that the form book is always irrelevant when Saints are concerned.

The home side went into the fixture on the back of two consecutive home wins, whilst their opponents had won just one of their last nine matches.

Yet with the reliability of a Swiss clock, Southampton ignored the stats and succumbed to defeat, with Seb Haller‘s mishit shot in the 37th minute proving decisive. In doing so, Ralph Hasenhuttl and his squad have left themselves considerable work to do in the battle to stay up. The usual platitudes invariably followed in the post match interviews but the sound bites are doing little to placate an increasingly unsettled fan base.

In truth, Southampton did little to earn anything from the game. A marginally improved second half performance did see Ings come close but Saints’ fortunes were summed up by a wayward slashed shot by Jack Stephens after getting into a promising position.

Here’s the key takeaways thoughts from Saturday’s defeat: