Southampton host Newcastle United for the first time since April 2016 as part Sky Sports’ Super Sunday.
The last time the Saints played host to the Magpies was under former boss Ronald Koeman, during that remarkable run that saw Saints finish 6th in the league and qualify for the UEFA Europa league group stages.
The visitors on the other hand, were fighting a losing battle against relegation the last time the two sides locked horns.
Since the two sides met, Koeman has departed the Saints for big spending Everton and the club have been in a transnational period despite an 8th placed finish and an EFL Cup final last season for Claude Puel – who was sacked and replaced by Mauricio Pellegrino in the summer.
Newcastle are still led by Pellegrino’s former mentor Rafa Benitez, who managed them as they made a swift return to the top flight by winning the Championship.
Southampton ran out 3-1 winners the last time the two sides met thanks to goals from Shane Long, Graziano Pelle and Victor Waynama. Andros Townsend got the consolation for the visitors.
How Saints lined up on the day: 4-4-2
Fraser Forster, Cuco Martina, Jose Fonte, Virgil Van Dijk, Ryan Bertrand, Sadio Mane, Victor Wanyama, Jordy Clasie (Oriol Romeu 77), Dusan Tadic (Jay Rodriguez 83), Shane Long (James Ward-Prowse 60) and Graziano Pelle.
How the Newcastle lined up on the day: 4-4-2
Karl Darlow, Daryl Janmaat (Siem De Jong 39), Steven Taylor (Jamaal Lascelles 46) Chancel Mbemba, Vurnon Anita, Andros Townsend, Georginio Wijnaldum, Jonjo Shelvey, Ayoze Perez (Papiss Cisse 70) Moussa Sissoko and Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Match Action:
Southampton flew out of the blocks, taking the lead in the third minute. A neat one-two between Long and Pelle opened up the visitors back four, for Long to stroll through and smartly finish past Karl Darlow.
Southampton then went on to dominate the game and the half, mounting the pressure on the visitors.
Sadio Mane had a side footed volley, brilliantly deflected wide from Vurnon Anita and Pelle headed wide from a Dusan Tadic corner.
Long was brought down by Darlow just outside the penalty area, chasing down a weak back pass from Steven Taylor. Darlow did manage to get a touch on the ball despite Long reaching the pass first and referee on the day Bobby Madley judged no foul to have been committed.
It looked for all the world that Saints would get a second before half time and they did.
Daryl Janmaat slipped and injured himself in the process which allowed Tadic the room in behind for a three on three with the visitors defence. Tadic played a delightful ball into Long. His heavy touch found its way to Pelle, who picked himself up from slipping to finesse a shot into the bottom right corner doubling the Saints advantage just before half time.
Saints started the second half just as brightly as they grabbed a third goal just eleven minutes after the restart. Clever work from Ryan Bertrand and Mane from a corner led to Jose Fonte receiving the ball in the area. His shot was smartly saved by Darlow but fell to the feet of Wanyama who had the simple task of putting the ball in the back of the net.
Townsend did give the visitors a consolation with a superb left-footed finish from 20 yards out that flew into the top corner to make it 3-1.
Mane was so close to restoring the three goal advantage, after Pelle played a sublime pass to set him clean through but his shot bent just wide of the far post.
The score line would remain 3-1 in a good afternoon for the Saints as they took one step closer to European qualification.
