SAINTS IN A FITTING TRIBUTE TO CYRILLE
ON AN afternoon when West Brom remembered Cyrille Regis before kick-off, it was Southampton who were left celebrating a 3-2 victory courtesy of goals the former Baggies front man would have been proud of.
Centre-half Ahmed Hegazi had put West Brom in front, heading home from Chris Brunt’s corner.
However, Saints fired back with two goals in three minutes in the closing stages of the first half.
First, Mario Lemina rifled a 20-yard strike into the top corner and Jack Stephens turned the game upside down moments later, finding the net with a looping header from James Ward-Prowse’s corner.
Ward-Prowse put Saints two goals ahead on 55 minutes, scoring directly from a freekick, the 23-year-old rolling the ball in.
Salomon Rondon gave the hosts hope of a late comeback with a header of his own on 72 minutes but it was Saints who moved out of the bottom three and left West Brom rooted to the foot of the table.
‘We need to keep going now. There’s no point in coming here and getting a big three points without pushing on,’ said Southampton defender Stephens.
‘No one wants to be in this situation but we got ourselves here, so it’s up to us to get out of it.’
Brighton picked up three points after beating West Ham.
Glenn Murray scored for the third game in a row to put the Seagulls in front before Javier Hernandez equalised on the half-hour mark.
Goals after the break from Jose Izquierdo and then Pascal Gross sealed a 3-1 win.
Swansea made it seven matches without defeat after a 1-1 draw at Leicester.
Jamie Vardy had put the Foxes in front before Federico Fernandez equalised.
Two goals in the last 20 minutes secured a 2-1 victory for Bournemouth over Stoke.
Xherdan Shaqiri had given Paul Lambert’s team the lead but Josh King and Lys Mousset secured three points for the Cherries.