Southampton secured a much needed win on Sunday afternoon as they demolished Everton 4-1.
Dusan Tadic finished a beautiful, flowing Saints move midway through the first half before Gylfi Sigurdsson levelled things against the run of play with a glorious long-range effort before the interval.
Saints continued to pressurise Everton, though, and were rewarded for their efforts. Charlie Austin took advantage of calamitous defending from Everton on two occasions to nod Saints into a 3-1 lead.
The hosts dominated throughout and capped a fine performance with Steven Davis’ expertly-taken long-distance drive.
There were several impressive performers for Saints on the day, but I simply have to give our man of the match to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
What. A. Performance.
The young Dane was in inspired mood and grabbed his chance with both hands. Hojbjerg had played little more than ten minutes of football prior to the game against Everton but slotted in seamlessly.
He showed enthusiasm, desire and drive to push his team forward and initiate attacks from deep. We saw in that game exactly why he was held in such high regard at Bayern Munich.
Hojbjerg made an incredible total of 121 touches on Sunday afternoon and made 96 passes. Most impressively with this stat, they were largely purposeful passes. Too many times this season, we have seen careless sideways and backwards passes. Hojbjerg, though, moved the ball quickly and aggressively, helping Saints to progress the play from deep.
The Denmark international gained possession 19 times, helped by a total of three interceptions and four tackles on the day. It was an incredible, all-action performance from Hojbjerg.
He has to get a run of games now. He’s earned it.
