With a handful of minutes left to play, Southampton did not know what to do with themselves, unsure whether to eke their way through stoppage time or find a third goal to kill the game. They retreated until they could no more, surviving to see off Norwich City. Such trepidation was understandable given March was the last time they recorded back-to-back league wins. Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side held on to savour victory, with first-half goals by Danny Ings and Ryan Bertrand paving the way for victory to delight supporters, who have been starved of these kind of gritty displays for too long.Daniel Farke spent the majority of the first-half slapping his thighs or turning round to his backroom staff, bemused as to how his Norwich side were this lacklustre three days on from an encouraging performance and result against Arsenal. Southampton, by contrast, seemed reinvigorated from their comeback victory against Watford here last weekend and immediately set about hurting an unconvincing Norwich back line. Hasenhüttl made a sole change – Shane Long coupled with Ings in attack after being promoted to the starting lineup following his star turn on Saturday – and his side carried on where they left off, putting in their best home performance this season. Continue readingreadfullarticle
