Southampton picked up a crucial three points against Bournemouth and find themselves within touching distance of Premier League safety.
Saints took the lead on the 25-minute mark, through a well-worked counter-attack from a Bournemouth corner. Nathan Redmond flicked the ball into Mario Lemina’s path. Lemina timed his through ball to Dusan Tadic perfectly, and the Serbian showed fantastic composure to slot the ball past Asmir Begovic.
Alex McCarthy was forced into a superb save when Josh King’s pass found Lyss Mousset, and his attempted shot turned into a cross for Nathan Aké, who rolled the ball past both Wesley Hoedt and Maya Yoshida, but his shot was stopped by McCarthy’s foot.
But, on the verge of the half-time whistle, the Cherries were level through Josh King. Bournemouth’s outswinging corner was flicked to the far post by Steve Cook and a lurking, completely unmarked Josh King tapped the ball into the net.
54th minute, Southampton were back in front, and it was Tadic again, scoring his third brace in the Premier League since moving from Twente. Tadic pounced on the loose ball after Cook’s miscontrol, Tadic closed in on Begovic’s goal with Charlie Austin screaming for the ball, but the Serbian found the corner of the net with the outside of the boot.
Saints nearly made it 3-1 through the substitute Shane Long. Austin’s shot was heading wide, but Long got a small touch on the ball which nearly took the ball past Begovic, but the Bosnian managed to prevent the ball from passing him.
Bournemouth were dominating the latter stages of the game, but Alex McCarthy was in inspired form and kept everything out of his net. Jermaine Defoe played the ball off for Ryan Fraser, but his shot was saved by the English ‘keeper, again with his feet. And he kept the best till last, Steve Cook’s long throw-in, was cleared by Lemina, former Saint Andrew Surman passed the ball off to Fraser, and his deflected shot was brilliantly saved by McCarthy.
These three points, combined with other results in the league, leave Saints still in the relegation zone, but one point from safety and many other teams close with Everton, Swansea and Man City left to play. The performance was once again positive and attacking, just need to work slightly on the defending and marking from corners and we should remain safe.
