Southampton gained their first home win of the season this afternoon, beating Crystal Palace 2-0 at St Mary's Stadium in the Premier League.
The visitors welcomed back manager Ian Holloway from a touchline ban, but even he could not manage to get his side any points this afternoon.
Mauricio Pochettino brought in Steven Davis to add more possession to his team. He also persisted with Rickie Lambert and Pablo Osvaldo up front, despite a lack of goals, and was rewarded in the second half.
Sports Mole takes a closer look at the action to determine whether it was a fair result.
Match statistics:
Southampton:
Shots 12
On target 3
Possession 62%
Corners 8
Fouls 11
Crystal Palace:
Shots 8
On target 0
Possession 38%
Corners 2
Fouls 12
Was the result fair?
It probably was. Apart from a 15-minute spell just after half time, Southampton created very little, but they did dominate possession throughout, and in that spell, scored two very good goals. Palace will feel a little unlucky that after an excellent defensive performance, a lack of concentration let them down. Holloway will also be disappointed that his side did not get a first-half penalty when Marouane Chamakh went down in the box.
Southampton's performance
Southampton kept the ball relatively well although their high-tempo passing and pressing game were not on show today. They did find some quality just after half time, scoring twice and creating several other good chances. After that they were happy to sit and play on the counter attack.
Crystal Palace's performance
In the first half Palace were very good. Their plan was to give up possession, organise themselves well at the back and the break at speed, and they did this. Jimmy Kebe should have found a better final ball on a couple of occasions on the counter-attack, while Chamakh was booked for diving when he went through one-on-one. Fifteen minutes where they lost their concentration cost Palace anything from this game.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Rickie Lambert: Man of the match was a tough choice today. As mentioned, there were only 15 minutes with any real quality, but in those 15 minutes, Lambert was the man to make the difference. He curled in a superb free kick, which basically won the game for the hosts, and had one or two other chances. Honourable mentions for Osvaldo, Adam Lallana and Victor Wanyama.
Referee performance
Martin Atkinson had little to do today. He had one big decision, which was the non-penalty in the first half. Chamakh was definitely looking for it, but a lot of strikers do the same thing and are labelled 'clever'. It could have gone either way, in all honesty. Apart from that, Atkinson let the game flow and produced few cards.
What next?
Southampton: That's two wins in a row for the Saints and their confidence will be sky high. They've got another home game next week before a trip to Manchester United after the international break. They would love to go into the break still in a European place and I see no reason why they can not do just that.
Crystal Palace: It doesn't get any easier for Palace. They face Liverpool and Arsenal in two of their next three games. A home game against Fulham in between will be a big match, as they look to collect points anywhere they can in their bid for survival.
Daniel Cross
