Coming on the back of a good momentum due to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Manchester City and a thrilling 3-2 Carabao Cup fourth round win over Stoke City, Southampton prepared to host Sean Dyche's Everton in the Premier League. Although the Saints had faced eight league defeats and were bottom-placed in the league table, this match was expected to be well-balanced as Russell Martin's side had previously defeated the visitors on penalties in the Carabao Cup last month.
However, since then, Everton were unbeaten in the Premier League and the Saints had also shown encouraging progress in their performance over the previous few weeks. Manager Russell Martin opted to keep a similar three centre-back defensive formation from the Manchester City match, and kept the same starting lineup in the defence as well.
Adam Armstrong scores winner to inspire Saints to first Premier League win
In-form striker Cameron Archer again started as a centre-forward but Martin surprised the home fans as he decided to drop 18-year-old prodigy Tyler Dibling to bring Adam Armstrong on the right flank. A lot of Southampton fans were left wondering as struggling striker Adam Armstrong was brought in the attack to replace one of Southampton's best players in the ongoing season, Tyler Dibling.
The home side started the match on a high note as versatile fullback Kyle Walker-Peters advanced inside the Everton half to give a good pass towards Archer, whose attempt missed the bottom-corner and went for a goal-kick. Both sides maintained their defensive solidity in the first half and didn't create much good chances before half-time.
In the second half, Everton created a number of chances on both flanks and midfielder Orel Mangala came very close to scoring the opening goal as Ramsdale's save nearly went into the net. A few minutes later, Sean Dyche's side again advanced forward as Dwight McNeil created a counter-attack chance and his pass was headed by Michael Keane, but Ramsdale again made a heroic save to deny the visitors from taking the 1-0 lead.
Everton stepped up their goalscoring efforts further and created a lot of empty spaces behind the Southampton defence, but Beto's impressive header was deflected by the goal-post and the score remained at 0-0. Meanwhile, Southampton also created a few chances and Walker-Peters again came very close to registering an assist but Armstrong couldn't keep his attempt on goal.
With only ten minutes remaining in the fixture, Martin introduced Yukinari Sugawara as a second half substitute, who immediately highlighted why the Saints signed him in the transfer window despite having a lot of fullbacks in their squad. Sugawara advanced down the right wing on a Southampton counter-attack and laid-off a perfect pass towards unmarked striker Adam Armstrong, who made a calm and composed finish to provide a 1-0 lead to Southampton.
The Saints had taken a 1-0 lead four times this season, but couldn't keep a clean-sheet previously and thus, this was a great opportunity for the hosts to register an important win. During the last-minute of the match, Everton striker Beto found the back of the net but the goal was ruled out due to offside, and Southampton maintained their 1-0 lead successfully.
With this, the Saints registered their first Premier League win in the ongoing season after ten matches, and now are nineteenth in the league table with four points. This is a first Premier League win for manager Russell Martin as well, whose Southampton future has been the subject of several exit rumours following eight league defeats in the previous two months.
Now, Southampton will aim to take inspiration from this much-needed first Premier League win and continue their winning momentum to avoid relegation this season.