Southampton 3-1 Swansea: Mane goal caps off easy Saints win
Ronald Koeman's side put the visitors to the
sword despite Garry Monk's men managed to pull
one back with a late penalty from Gylfi Sigurdsson
Southampton put in a commanding performance
to pick up their first Premier League win in three
matches, beating Swansea City 3-1.
Swansea came into the fixture at St Mary's
Stadium having not scored for three matches in all
competitions and fell behind to a Virgil van Dijk
header in the first half.
Dusan Tadic made a mockery of Swansea
manager Garry Monk's half-time tinkering by
doubling the advantage nine minutes into the
second period, before Sadio Mane got the
third shortly after the hour mark.
Gylfi Sigurdsson ended Swansea's goal drought
from the penalty spot late on after Neil Taylor was
felled by Jose Fonte, but it was little consolation
for the below-par visitors.
After making a promising start to the season,
Swansea have now gone the whole of September
without registering a victory, while Southampton
climb into the top half of the Premier League table
with their three points.
Monk brought Ki Sung-yueng in for Jefferson
Montero as part of a diamond midfield formation
and, after Southampton – who handed a first start
of the season to Ryan Bertrand – had enjoyed a
bright opening spell, the first clear-cut chance of
the match fell to the South Korean.
A fierce Jonjo Shelvey strike from distance was
parried into the path of Ki, who was unable to keep
his effort down.
The home side were soon causing a threat at the
other end and Graziano Pelle took out three
Swansea defenders with a throughball
before Mane shot narrowly wide of the right-hand
upright.
Van Dijk broke the deadlock in the 11th minute
when he was allowed too much space in the
penalty area from a James Ward-Prowse corner
and headed in at the near post.
Swansea were struggling to bring forward duo
Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew into the game,
but Ki drew a diving save from Maarten
Stekelenburg with a low drive after 22 minutes.
The visitors' lack of potency was recognised by
Monk at half-time, with the Swansea boss
bringing Eder and Montero on for Gomis and Jack
Cork respectively.
If Monk hoped those changes would swing the
match in his side's favour, he was wrong.
Southampton doubled their lead in the 54th minute,
when Tadic chipped over Lukasz Fabianski from
close range after getting on the end of a delightful
lofted pass from Pelle, although there was some
suspicion the ball deflected off Ki on the way in.
Any ambitions Swansea held to reel in their hosts
were soon dispelled when Mane fired a low effort
into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal from
the centre of the penalty area.
Swansea's efforts to reduce the deficit were
limited, but Sigurdsson pulled one back from the
spot seven minutes from time after Fonte's
challenge on Taylor.
Comments