Stuart Armstrong Southampton
Saints’ achieved second away win in six days, a result that puts his side 14th in the Premier League. This was a complete turnaround of performance after their dire 9-0 loss at home against Leicester City.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “I was most proud with the moments we won the ball because that was so important. When you only defend against such an opponent the pressure can get too much. That has happened very often in the past and today it didn’t. We stayed brave, tried to keep them far away from our goal and in the end it was by far the best performance this season. We’ve had a few good away ones but this was the best”
The back-to-back away wins at Aston Villa and Chelsea have coincided with Stuart Armstrong’s return to Saints’ starting line-up. It was Armstrong and Cedric Soares’ pressing of Callum Hudson-Odoi that won back possession for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to put Michael Obafemi in for the opener.
Stuart Armstrong said “The celebrations are a little bit subdued because we have got the game on Saturday. It’s a bit bittersweet because we get to enjoy today a little bit before focusing on Crystal Palace. People didn’t expect us to come here and get a result like that but from the start of the game I thought we created some opportunities. We managed to see it out until half-time and then we started growing into the game and looked more comfortable”
Only the Premier League’s top four clubs now have more away wins than Saints this season.
