Fraser Forster was criticised for his performance once again, as Southampton only left the AMEX Stadium with one point, after their 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Mauricio Pellegrino made changes to the side that had beaten West Bromwich Albion the week before. Wesley Hoedt was brought in to replace Maya Yoshida and played alongside his compatriot Virgil Van DIjk for the first time for signing from Lazio in the summer.
Mario Lemina had to be withdrawn from the squad due to injury, he was replaced with James Ward-Prowse. Finally, Sofiane Boufal was brought in to replace Shane Long, following his sensational solo effort the previous week and his dubious celebration that followed.
Chris Hughton made no changes to the side that played superbly against West Ham United and achieved their first away victory in the Premier League.
Throughout the week, Southampton had shown on Twitter how much they had been working on set-pieces in training and it paid off after six minutes. James Ward-Prowse’s initial free kick struck the post and came straight back into the path of a quick-witted Steven Davis, who headed the ball into an empty net.
Brighton’s first sight of goal came from a set-piece too, whipped in by Anthony Knockaert and headed straight into Forster’s chest by Davy Propper.
Some nice passing by the Saints eventually found Boufal on the right of the pitch, who picked out Dusan Tadic in the centre of the box. His shot unfortunately went well wide of the goal. Despite a slight deflection, he should’ve done much better with that opportunity.
Brighton found the equaliser after just seven minutes of the second half. A dodgy clearance by Oriol Romeu fell into the path of Knockaert who found Pascal Gross on the wing. His cross was met by Glenn Murray, and although his header seemed savable and really slow, Forster struggled to move towards it and the ball crept past his near post, and the Seagulls were level. Some very poor goalkeeping by Forster had once again cost Southampton.
Only half-chances followed for each side. One for Glenn Murray, and one for Manolo Gabbiadini, who had barely received any service whatsoever to work off the entire afternoon. Needless to say, it wasn’t the best performance from either side and the game ended as a draw.
Southampton fans will be really disappointed again with the style of play that Pellegrino has adopted.
The Argentine manager is now under a bit of pressure to perform better than he has been recently because otherwise, could we see an early exit at St Mary’s?
Next up, Burnley at home and given their current form, many fans are worried that Saints won’t be able to achieve anything from this game.
