Southampton returned to Premier League football in emphatic style with a comfortable 3-0 win at Norwich City.
This was despite Norwich seeming to get back into their stride quickest and making a fast start to proceedings without really testing Alex McCarthy.
Saints grew slowly into the game and managed to carve out a couple of openings, most notably Danny Ings forcing a low save from Tim Krul.
The lengthy gap between fixtures was apparent with the usual crispness of some of the players not up to their high standards.
Southampton were getting closer as the half went on with Ings next to go close after smacking the crossbar.
The visitors’ superiority was soon reflected on the scoreboard as Ings continued his brilliant form from before the break with a superbly curled finish from the edge of the box to get his 16th goal of the season.
Stuart Armstrong made it two soon after with another inch-perfect finish.
Norwich then had a goal correctly disallowed for offside before Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side cemented their dominance with a third courtesy of a great touch and finish from Nathan Redmond.
It was like we never went away after a simply brilliant performance from the Saints, here’s how we rated the players:
