Stoke 1 - 2 Southampton

Stoke 1 - 2 Southampton

Southampton’s Graziano Pellè ends goal drought in style to sink Stoke

Home team scorers
Marko Arnautovic 52

Away team scorers
Graziano Pelle 11
Graziano Pelle 30



Only Newcastle had scored fewer away goals than Southampton in the Premier League this season and Graziano Pellè had not scored for more than four months but in the showdown of the Europa League wannabes – if such clubs exist – it was Southampton who prevailed thanks to the Italian’s early brace.

Pelle had not scored since 1 November, drawing 13 blanks in a barren personal spell of 855 minutes all told, before two neat finishes inside the opening half hour gave Southampton the winning platform that leaves them three points behind Manchester United in the chase for sixth place.

Marko Arnautovic put the fire back in Stoke’s belly with a goal early in the second half but Southampton, even with Ryan Bertrand at centre-back in the absence of suspended captain José Fonte, held firm despite Sadio Mané’s late red card. Pellè was aided by the energetic return of his strike partner Shane Long and by untypically slothful defending from Stoke, who had gained 10 points from their previous four games.

Ronald Koeman was relieved to see his leading marksman return to his penetrative best. “It was a great response from Graziano today,” the Southampton manager said. “He was strong and kept the ball and scored two goals. I understand you can’t score two goals every week but as a striker you need to be important. He knows he’s a big personality and he had a great game today.”

Jack Butland had tipped over Pellè’s initial header before the Italy striker rose to glance home Steven Davis’s subsequent corner to score Southampton’s 12th headed goal of the campaign, the most in the division.

Even with Ryan Shawcross, their captain and defensive stalwart, back after eight weeks out with a back injury, Stoke looked second best for the rest of the first half. When Cuco Martina’s cross from the right went over everyone, Pellè retrieved the ball, bustled inside Shawcross and played a one-two with Dusan Tadic to which Geoff Cameron seemed oblivious. To add insult to immobility, Pellè’s curling shot was at a height that Butland would normally save.

With Xherdan Shaqiri forced to withdraw with a thigh injury, Stoke’s day was getting worse and they should have been 3-0 down by half-time. Long played Tadic in, two on one, but the Serbian took an age to cut inside Shawcross and allowed Cameron to make a tackle.

Stoke came out charged up for the second half, got the crowd behind them and were back in the contest when Arnautovic scored with an audacious flick of his right boot from Ibrahim Afellay’s low cross towards the near post.

But despite a spell of spirited pressure and several decent chances, Stoke could not complete their recovery. Tadic could have earned a penalty, as he went down under Butland’s challenge, before James Ward-Prowse curled a free-kick against the crossbar late on. Southampton will appeal against the red card shown to Mane after the substitute was dismissed for an awkward leap into Erik Pieters. But the visitors had done enough in the opening half hour to win the game.

Guardian