Everton beat Southampton 2-1 at St Mary’s on Saturday as Marco Silva‘s men dug deep to secure their first Premier League away win of the season.
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Tom Davies gave them the lead but Danny Ings equalized for a much-improved Saints in the second half. However, Richarlison bagged the winner 15 minutes from time as the Toffees continue their fightback.
With the win Everton move on to 14 points, while Ralph Hasenhuttl‘s Southampton remain on eight points and are second from bottom in the table.
3 things we learned
1. Everton dig deep and finally win away: For the first time in nine PL games the Toffees won on the road. They deserved it and after a tough week following Andre Gomes’ horrendous injury, Marco Silva’s side answered their critics. They had a wobble around half time as they let Saints back in but as soon as they scored the second goal they didn’t look like letting their lead slip. Everton looked much better going forward as Walcott, Tosun and Richarlison caused havoc with Sigurdsson pulling the strings. Everton have to win games like this to push themselves towards a top seven finish.
2. Poor defending cost Saints again: In the first half Saints could have been three or four down and they didn’t really deserve to still be in the game at the start of the second half. They didn’t have a recognized right back or left back on the pitch as Hasenhuttl has totally lost faith in some of his defenders after their poor recent displays. Two crosses to the back post led to Everton’s goals and if they had proper full backs in those positions, maybe the positioning would have been better. Saints have the worst defensive record in the PL and after two successful relegation battles in the past two years, they now look destined for the drop unless things change drastically.
3. Hasenhuttl’s time running out: His strange formation and personnel decisions show he is a desperate man and Hasnehuttl is coming up to one year in charge of Saints. His time is running out. Saints are now second from bottom and three points from safety. They face Arsenal, Watford, Norwich and Newcastle in their next four games and nothing less than three wins will do.
Man of the Match: Richarlison – Scored the winning goal and his pace caused Southampton all kinds of problems. The Brazilian was the difference in a game between two teams lacking in confidence.
Saints started well as they aimed to get on the front foot but they were then dealt a hammer blow.
Everton then took the lead with poor defending from Southampton as Sigurdsson’s corner was flicked on by Holgate and an unmarked Davies at the back post as he made it 1-0 with a simple finish.
Cenk Tosun then missed a glorious chance as Jack Stephens tackled the Turkish striker superbly.
Sigurdsson then whipped in a lovely delivery which almost found Yerry Mina to make it 2-0.
Theo Walcott then got free down the right again and forced Alex McCarthy into a fine save at his near post.
Everton dominated the first half as Southampton failed to deliver any dangerous moments in attack.
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Sofiane Boufal came on at half time and Saints improved immediately.
The Moroccan winger smashed Saints’ first shot on goal and then dribbled towards towards and crossed for Ings to tap home and make it 1-1.
Some poor defensive work from Saints then set up Sigurdsson who had his shot tipped over my McCarthy as the game became and end-to-end encounter late on.
Tosun dragged an effort across goal, while Jordan Pickford denied James Ward-Prowse‘s fine free kick with an equally good save.
Richarlison was causing problems up top for Southampton as there was extreme pressure for both teams late in the second half.
Mason Holgate flicked a header inches over as Everton pushed hard for their first away win of the season.
And it arrived as Djibril Sidibe‘s cross was finished by Richarlison to make it 2-1.
Lucas Digne then whipped the ball in for sub Alex Iwobi who had a shot deflected wide and another one deflected onto the post, as Everton eased to victory and piled more misery on Southampton.
