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Southampton’s Victor Wanyama does enough to see off Hull Southampton’s Victor Wanyama does enough to see off Hull
(about 2 hours later)
That the Saints maintained their march on Chelsea’s coat-tails came down to a Hull mistake and a splendid piece of opportunism from their midfielder Victor Wanyama. Much more of this and things are going to get serious for Southampton. Terrace renditions of “We’re going to win the league,” may have to be chorused with tongues extracted from cheeks.
Ronald Koeman’s Southampton hardly needed a leg-up having come into this contest on the back of nine wins in their previous 10 matches. But they received one with just 126 seconds on the clock when Robbie Brady’s ill-judged pass back flustered Hull’s third-choice goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic, whose miscued clearance was splendidly swept in first time by Wanyama from 40 yards. A sixth clean sheet of their Premier League season ensured maximum return from what appeared to be an onerous fixture on the Humber. The one goal required came courtesy of Victor Wanyama’s wondrous piece of opportunism after their high-pressing forced a mistake from Eldin Jakupovic, the error-prone Hull goalkeeper.
Jakupovic, a one-cap Swiss international, has previous when it comes to clangers on this ground. On his last league appearance here 21 months ago he fumbled Miguel Llera’s 86th-minute corner into his own net to send Sheffield Wednesday home with a surprise Championship victory. Flustered by an under-hit pass back from Robbie Brady, a makeshift left-back, the one-cap Swiss international shanked his third-minute clearance straight to the feet of the former Celtic midfielder Wanyama, who swept it first time back over the goalkeeper’s head. The clinical nature of the finish epitomised Southampton’s display, and left their manager, Ronald Koeman, to consider their title credentials.
With Allan McGregor and Steve Harper sidelined through injury, Jakupovic was integral to Liverpool being blanked at Anfield a week ago but panic spread whenever Southampton closed the ball down deep in home territory. It took a full-length lunge from Curtis Davies to deny Dusan Tadic and retrieve possession following a miscontrolled pass in the 20th minute and on another occasion James Chester was forced to hack clear after miscommunication with his goalkeeper. “Maybe, maybe,” he said, laughing. “I’m always positive. But to continue winning, to continue up the table, why not? The expectation is high and I like that because we would like to win something. If you win games you have good possibilities, maybe to play in Europe. If we keep like this it can be a great season.”
That Southampton took one of only two chances created in the first period - their £12m acquisition from Hull, Shane Long, saw Jakupovic block the other - spoke of the clinical nature to their play this season. That they had conceded only five times previously reflected their defensive resolve. When £90m worth of talent left St Mary’s in the summer and Mauricio Pochettino departed to Tottenham there was seemingly only one way to go for the club. Yet they sit in second place three months in and have also progressed to the last eight of the Capital One Cup.
Hull were unable to crack them despite a couple of promising slaloms into the box from top scorer Mohamed Diamé and the mercurial Hatem Ben Arfa, who also laid claim to the team’s one effort on target: an undercooked offering that Fraser Forster gathered comfortably low down. Steve Bruce, whose Hull team inconvenienced Arsenal and Liverpool in their previous outings, reckons Southampton were comfortably the best of the rest in 2013-14 but the departure of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Luke Shaw and Dejan Lovren has hardly been a loss at all thanks to canny recruitment.
Forster was one of three Southampton players that England manager Roy Hodgson, taking in his first Premier League game at the KC Stadium, would have watched with interest; it was hard not to be impressed by the full-back duo of Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand. “They are a very good side and arguably as good as they were, so the manager and the people behind the scenes need a big pat on the back,” Bruce said. “What they have let go has been replaced by real quality. The two full-backs for them were really terrific.”
Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand, the players in question, chose an opportune moment to shine – it was Roy Hodgson’s first Premier League visit to the KC Stadium. The Southampton goalkeeper, Fraser Forster, another in contention to feature in the Euro 2014 qualifiers, can rarely have been as well protected.
That Southampton took one of two chances created in the first period – Shane Long, their £12m acquisition from Hull, saw Jakupovic block the other – reflected the clinical nature of their play this season.
Southampton could have won by a greater margin but for a rare off-day for their new-look attack. Graziano Pellè’s timing was out a minute from the end when he swung his boot at Sadio Mané’s low cross, guiding it narrowly the wrong side of the post. Earlier, Mané also made a hash of a golden chance in the 69th minute when he looped Dusan Tadic’s pass into the turf and over the bar from inside the six-yard box.
That the Saints maintained their march on Chelsea’s coattails came down to the latest howler by Hull’s third-choice goalkeeper. On his last league appearance here, 21 months ago, Jakupovic fumbled Miguel Llera’s corner into his own net to send Sheffield Wednesday home with a surprise Championship victory.
With Allan McGregor and Steve Harper sidelined through injury, Jakupovic was integral to Liverpool being blanked at Anfield a week ago but panic spread whenever Southampton closed the ball down deep in home territory. Redemption of sorts came when he foiled Steven Davis with an unconventional stop in the second period.
But this particular Southampton side needs only one chance.