Crystal Palace 0-2 Southampton: Saints three points off fifth after another away win

Southampton claimed yet another win on the road with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Tuesday evening.

Superb strikes from both Nathan Redmond and Stuart Armstrong saw the Saints secure their fourth away win in a row and move up to the heady heights of ninth.

Ahead of the game, Ralph Hasenhuttl chose to rest Danny Ings and gave Michael Obafemi a start, whilst Jannik Vestergaard came in for the injured Jan Bednarek

Saints and Vestergaard in particular were thankful for a big miss from Cenk Tosun midway through the first-half as both sides looked to grab the lead.

The Turkish international was played through on goal by Jordan Ayew – who had robbed Vestergaard of possession in a dangerous position – but blazed well over the bar when it looked easier to find the target.

It was a big and potentially costly miss, and Saints made Palace pay just a minute later.

Jack Stephens lofted a ball up to Nathan Redmond in a central position and the attacker did very well to hold his marker off and twist onto his right foot before smashing an unstoppable strike into the far corner of the net.

After claiming the lead, the visitors to Selhurst Park really took control and looked to improve their advantage further.

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Three efforts from Stuart Armstrong went close, whilst Shane Long could only find the side-netting when he met a cross at the front post, and a 1-0 lead is what they held going into half-time.

Saints had got under the skin of home talisman Wilfried Zaha in the latter stages of the first period and the winger was perhaps lucky to not be sent off after television cameras appeared to show him poke James Ward-Prowse in or around the eye.

As the second-half began, Saints would have been wanting to get that all important second goal in good time – and that’s just what they did.

Nathan Redmond provided the assist this time by playing the ball to Stuart Armstrong around 25 yards from goal and the Scotland international looked up before hitting another special, long-range strike that arrowed into the net.

Saints fans would have been thinking back to the weekend when a 2-0 lead was surrendered to Wolves in an eventual 3-2 loss, and further chances went begging to make the lead even bigger.

Jannik Vestergaard saw his effort on the stretch drop just wide, but Shane Long was the the real culprit after missing a chance one-on-one with Palace keeper Vicente Guaita.

Thankfully for the striker, it didn’t matter as Saints held strong and claimed a fourth away win in a row in the Premier League.

The situation now is quite amazing – now just three points sit between Saints and the top five after taking 16 points from the last 21 on offer, and they were still in the relegation zone just seven games ago.

A huge amount of credit must go to both Ralph Hasenhuttl and his players for the turnaround, and they can now have a real go at Spurs in the cup this coming weekend given the much-improved league position.

Palace team

Guaita, Kelly (Ward 62), Cahill, Tomkins, Riedewald, McCarthy, McArthur, Kouyate (Meyer 62), Ayew, Zaha, Tosun (Wickham 69)

Subs not used: Hennessey, Dann, McGregor, Pierrick

Saints team

McCarthy, Cedric (Romeu 22), Vestergaard, Stephens, Bertrand, Hojbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Redmond, Armstrong, Long (Ings 70), Obafemi (Adams 84)

Subs not used: Gunn, Yoshida, Djenepo, Boufal