Southampton 1-2 Burnley: Clinical Burnley Storm Southampton

Story of the match

Burnley took an early lead in bizarre fashion, directly from a corner kick in the 2nd minute. It was Ashley Westwood with the goal, the midfielder put the ball in at the near post, Danny Ings misjudged the flight of the ball in the stormy conditions, for it to bounce at the front post and put the visitors ahead.

Southampton recovered well and found their rhythm as the half went on; they were playing the better football but against the rigid Burnley defence.

This was proven when Southampton equalised on the 18th minute through talisman Danny Ings, with a superb finish into the bottom corner from outside the penalty box, a deserved equaliser for the Saints.

Southampton then continued their pressure, as a short free kick played to Sofiane Boufal, resulted in Jack Stephens hitting the crossbar from a header, Burnley were not as fierce in defence as we’ve seen in the past and Southampton were getting in good positions to cause them trouble.

Both teams picked up injuries in the first half, just after their winter break. Chris Wood went off in the aftermath of Ings’s goal and was replaced by Matej Vydra. Whereas Southampton had Boufal go off later in the half and was replaced by Moussa Djenepo to what looked like an ankle injury.

The second half started very slowly, no team threatening to change the score line until the 60th minute with a stunning individual goal from substitute Vydra, the striker controlled the ball with his chest, on the turn, taking the ball away from the Southampton defenders and smashed the ball home at the near post. A goal worthy of all three points.

Southampton looked a completely different side in the second half, not putting any pressure on the Burnley defence and not creating enough chances, which really cost them the points here, they played into Burnley’s hands.

Man Of The Match: James Tarkowski

There was no real stand out contender for the man of the match today, but Tarkowski, who kept Burnley’s defence organised and never really looked in any danger throughout the 90 minutes.

Takeaways from the match

Southampton Performing Well but Is That Enough?

In the last few weeks, Southampton have  arguably been better than the opposition they’re facing and were the better side in the first half today, however they haven’t picked up the results the performances have mirrored. It is a minor issue that Ralph Hasenhuttl will be slightly worried about with games against Aston Villa and West Ham coming up.