Southampton collected their first Premier League points of the season with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Brighton & Hove Albion, courtesy of second-half goals from new signing Moussa Djenepo and Nathan Redmond, at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Brighton started on the front foot with forward Neal Maupay creating the early chances but the hosts suffered a blow on the half-hour mark when Florin Andone was shown a straight red card for a horrific tackle on Southampton Yan Valery`s knee.
“The red card would make it difficult for the rest of the game,” Brighton boss Graham Potter said after the match.
“That`s not a tackle we want to see. I don`t think he meant to do it but it`s one we can`t defend.”
Reduced to 10 men, Brighton thought they had taken a surprise lead with centre back Lewis Dunk heading home from a corner but the goal was swiftly chalked off for offside after a VAR review.
Southampton were more aggressive after the interval and they were rewarded when Djenepo, signed for a reported 14 million pounds ($17.2 million) from Standard Liege, curled a rasping shot past Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
It was Djenepo`s first involvement after coming off the bench in the 53rd minute and his strike partner Danny Ings was delighted to watch the Malian forward make an instant impact.
“Moussa Djenepo let his feet do the talking, coming inside and put it in the top corner — it was a huge lift, fresh legs coming on and on a hot day,” Ings said.
Potter introduced striker Glenn Murray late in the contest as Brighton tried to avoid their first league defeat of the new season.
Juergen Locadia struck the post for Brighton but it was Southampton midfielder Redmond who slid home Sofiane Boufal`s cross from close range to seal the points for the visitors in injury time.
“I should probably get more of those sort of goals in those areas,” Redmond said.
“It`s getting tough to win games in the Premier League — teams are playing good football.”
“If you don`t get points against teams around us then we`ll be kicking ourselves later in the campaign.”
It was a first league win since April for Southampton, who provisionally moved up to 17th in the league table.
Source: Zee News