Southampton 4-1 Crystal PalaceSouthampton seal Europa League spot after beating Crystal Palace
Home team scorersSadio Mane 43
Graziano Pelle 61
Ryan Bertrand 75 Pen
Steven Davis 87
Away team scorersJason Puncheon 64
Southampton will be involved in next season’s Europa League and maybe, just maybe, the destructive trend set in recent summers is to be no more. They did the required job against a Crystal Palace side that largely kept them honest despite the distraction of next weekend’s FA Cup final, goals from Sadio Mané, Graziano Pellè, Steven Davis and a Ryan Bertrand penalty sending them into the summer with a buoyancy that suggests the chance to build upon a wonderfully bright and talented core will be too good to pass up on this time.
A disarmingly mellow St Mary’s, hardly fraught with tension at the outset despite the possible prize at hand, began the afternoon with reason enough to feel pleased with itself. The glum December evening when, after a lifeless fourth defeat in five games against Tottenham Hotspur, Ronald Koeman openly criticised his players’ attitude seemed aeons away in the mid-May sun. Southampton have largely been superb since then, playing with the kind of ambition that their manager will demand from those upstairs before committing to the contract extension that might stave off – among others – Everton.
“There’s only one Ronald Koeman” was, accordingly, the home support’s early refrain. The point was made clearly enough above a meandering early spell that only livened up in the 18th minute when Dwight Gayle’s first-time shot was beaten away by Fraser Forster.
Gayle caught Oriol Romeu in possession shortly afterwards and his scurrying incursions down the channels gave a degree of personality to a side that, with five changes made ahead of their Wembley date, was picked with little more than conservation and internal auditioning in mind.
Southampton awoke, matching Gayle’s endeavour in a five-minute burst saw Dusan Tadic curl a cross-shot wide and Pape Souaré cut out a Mané centre with Shane Long poised before the striker, with the best opportunity of all, rose to head a deep Ryan Bertrand cross wide of Julián Speroni’s left post.
Speroni, selected so that he could equal John Jackson’s club record of 388 appearances by a goalkeeper, then watched Virgil van Dijk’s free kick brush the top of his net but he was considerably less at ease two minutes before the interval. He was not helped by Damien Delaney, whose attempt to clear a Tadic delivery sent the ball vertically and demanded urgent intervention. Unfortunately, Speroni’s could only assist with a weak, flapping punch towards Mané and the finish, hooked into the net he had vacated, was straightforward.
The value of a solid hand was underlined moments later when Fraser Forster stood up to deny Gayle, cleverly put through by Jason Puncheon, with his right fist.
Pellè replaced Romeu at half-time while Pardew gave a Premier League debut to the 20-year-old winger Sullay Kaikai, who finished Shrewsbury Town’s top scorer during two loan spells in League One. Kaikai caused concern with two early deliveries from the right and then came close to matching his potency at the lower level when Forster acrobatically repelled a left-footed half-volley.
That was Pellè’s cue to show how it was done, hanging in the air – as few others can – to meet a Cuco Martina cross and beating Speroni comfortably. Southampton’s players celebrated en masse beside the touchline with Kelvin Davis, the 39-year-old goalkeeper whose career will be celebrated here in a testimonial on Tuesday night.
To their credit, Palace were game enough to reply immediately. Speroni might have been lightly consoled as Forster saw his own inadequate attempt to clear a cross retrieved by Jason Puncheon, who scored a gloriously true left-footed shot against a club he intermittently called home for four years.
The outcome was sealed when Mané, who had given Adrian Mariappa a considerable start, outpaced the centre-back and went down in a tangle of legs just inside the area. Bertrand sent the penalty, awarded by Michael Oliver after a little deliberation, high to Speroni’s right.
Southampton were creating chances at will by the time Davis, receiving a clever chest-down by Pellè before drilling first-time past Speroni, completed the scoring three minutes from the end. At around the same time, Stoke were putting matters beyond West Ham at the Britannia Stadium; Southampton were guaranteed sixth place at worst and St Mary’s, by now, was a picture of buoyancy.
Guardian
