Southampton find more joy on travels
Saturday’s valiant draw at Manchester City suggested that injuryravaged Crystal Palace might be on the cusp of something more than their customary flirtation with the Championship followed by lateseason salvation. Instead, they were outfoxed, and at times outplayed, by a Southampton side who have now won four consecutive Premier League away games for the first time since 2014-15 and taken 16 points from the past 20.
Goals from the outstanding Nathan Redmond and Stuart Armstrong won it, but their performance was a delight and once Cedric Soares hobbled off after 22 minutes, in James Ward-prowse, they had a makeshift full-back more capable of thwarting Wilfried Zaha than a host of full-time defenders.
Three points would have had Palace musing on a first European place since 1998. Those thoughts can be set aside for now. In contrast, Southampton find themselves in a comfort zone that seemed beyond them in the dark days of autumn. “A lot has changed since then,” acknowledged Ralph Hasenhuttl, the Southampton manager. “We’ve changed our approach completely: we’ve not played five at the back, but we’ve been tactically demanding. Tonight, we made all the right decisions.”
Southampton had a plan. They relied on Ryan Bertrand and Soares for width; Redmond for midfield strings-pulling and Michael Obafemi, starting for the first time since Boxing Day, for goal threat.
That plan lasted until a robust Jairo Riedewald challenge ended Soares’ evening but the Portuguese had barely made it to the dressing room when Jack Stephens floated a long ball forward. Redmond gathered, spun around Martin Kelly, held off James Mcarthur and launched his first goal of 2020 beyond Vicente Guaita.
Palace lacked fluidity. The Cenk Tosun/zaha alliance is a work in progress, although the Turkey international ought to have scored before Southampton’s first when Jannik Vestergaard was robbed by Jordan Ayew, who squared for Tosun to hurtle towards goal unchallenged – but he fired over.
Without the suspended Luka Milivojevic, Palace lacked midfield authority and without the injured Andros Townsend they lacked pace and mischief. Yet, there could have been hope. Ward-prowse found himself pitted against Zaha. Yet the Ivorian’s mood was brittle and for all that he drew his customary succession of fouls, Zaha would rarely get the better of his tormentor.
Indeed, Zaha’s frustrations boiled over when he appeared to poke Ward-prowse in the eye as the pair trudged off at half-time. Both managers claimed not to have seen the incident, but Palace’s Roy
Hodgson added: “I’ve heard VAR checked it and found nothing. That’s good enough for me.”
Whatever Hodgson said during the break was undone three minutes after it. Redmond, whose performance was lauded by Hasenhuttl, threaded the ball through to Armstrong 25 yards out. The Scot smashed home his second goal in two away games.
“We looked tired, but that’s no excuse,” sighed Hodgson. “Their second was a massive blow. If we’d kept it 0-1, who knows what could have happened?”
Crystal Palace
Subs Booked Southampton
Referee