Southampton vs Swansea City. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance30,704.
Saturday 26 September 2015 21:53, UK
Southampton secured their second Premier League win of the season with an impressive 3-1 victory over Swansea at St Mary's.
Goals from Virgil van Dijk - his first for Saints - a Ki Sung-Yueng own goal and Sadio Mane's third in a week put Ronald Koeman's side three ahead after 61 minutes.
Gylfi Sigurdsson pulled one back for Swansea from the penalty spot with seven minutes to play after Jose Fonte brought down Neil Taylor.
But it was too late for Garry Monk's side to mount a comeback, and Southampton now leapfrog their opponents in the table, climbing to ninth, while Swansea fall to 11th.
Saints settled the quicker and took the lead through Van Dijk on 11 minutes, the Dutchman towering over former-Saints man Jack Cork to head past Lukasz Fabianski.
Before that, Mane had wasted a good chance for Southampton, and Swans midfielder Ki smashed over the bar when well-placed following a long-range effort from Jonjo Shelvey.
Following Van Dijk's opener, Southampton sat back, allowing Swansea, and Shelvey in particular, plenty of time to pick passes from midfield.
Sigurdsson failed to capitalise on a free-kick in excellent position midway through the first half, but as the two sides approached the interval, the chances dried up.
With his side 1-0 down, Monk took action at the break, bringing on Eder and Jefferson Montero for Bafetimbi Gomis and Cork.
But before either had the chance to make an impression, Southampton had doubled their lead. The impressive Pelle was causing Ashley Williams and Federico Fernandez problems, and the Italian played Tadic into the left channel on 54 minutes. The Serb crossed towards the waiting Mane, only for Ki to divert past his own goalkeeper.
Just past the hour mark, Southampton made it three, Mane expertly finding the bottom corner of Fabianski's net (61) after good build-up from Pelle and Bertrand.
The left-back, returning to make his first start of the Premier League season after a knee injury, was an attacking threat throughout.
Swansea rallied in the closing stages and Shelvey had a goal-bound effort blocked by Fonte, before Southampton's Portugal international clumsily tripped Taylor in the box, gifting the Swans a route back into the match with seven minutes to play.
Sigurdsson dispatched the spot-kick and there was a brief rally from Monk's side as Andre Ayew forced Martin Stekelenburg into a save after good work from the substitute Montero.
After last week's disappointment at home to Manchester United, it was a strong performance from the Saints and they will go to Chelsea next week full of confidence.
As for Swansea, their indifferent start to the campaign continues and they face a tough fixture next week as a Tottenham side resurgent following their 4-1 victory over Manchester City travels to the Liberty Stadium.
Tony Cottee's Soccer Saturday verdict
"It was a strange game because both teams had spells where they were on top of the game but Southampton scored at those times.
"The key spell of the game was probably the first 15 minutes of the second half when Southampton got the second and third goal. Once it was 3-0 it was pretty much game over. Swansea got a consolation penalty towards the end but Southampton, I would say, deserved to win without hitting that top gear.
"Right from the kick-off, Swansea were really, really sloppy. They took a while to recover, but by the time they recovered they were already a goal down and chasing the game for the rest of the match. Swansea will be alright, they're going to probably be mid-table again but they can't afford to keep losing too many matches."
Player ratings:
Southampton: Stekelenburg (6), Cedric (6), Fonte (6), van Dijk (8), Bertrand (7), Wanyama (6), Ward-Prowse (6), S. Davis (6), Mane (7), Tadic (7), Pelle (8)
Subs used: Rodriguez (6), Juanmi (6), Romeu (6)
Swansea: Fabiankski (6), Naughton (6), Williams (6), Fernandez (6), Taylor (7), Cork (5), Ki Sung-Yueng (6), Shelvey (6), Sigurdsson (6), Ayew (6), Gomis (5)
Subs used: Eder (6), Montero (6), Britton (6)
Man of the match: Virgil van Dijk
