FULL TIME: Southampton 1-0 West Ham United
And Saints see it through! A fine defensive display by the ten men in the face of relentless West Ham pressure. So that’s five consecutive clean sheets in a row, a league sequence they last achieved 15 years ago! They climb back to seventh, but are now just two points behind West Ham, who stay in sixth. And on the whole, Southampton deserved their win: their early attacks were the most incisive of the match, while they defended resolutely when a man down. Fraser Foster hasn’t let in a league goal for nine hours and three minutes. Like Ronald Koeman said, it’s all about defensive organisation.
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90 min +5: Cresswell crosses from the left. Collins, on the penalty area, shapes like Zidane in the 2002 Champions League final, and volleys. It hits Yoshida on the chest. Collins claims a penalty kick, but that hit the defender plumb on the crest of his shirt.
90 min +4: Payet dribbles, left to right, across the front of the Saints box, but can’t work space to shoot.
90 min +3: Byram crosses deep from the right. Cedric gets his clearance right this time.
90 min +2: Claise is replaced by Ward-Prowse.
90 min +1: ... is cleared. The first of five extra minutes has elapsed.
90 min: Cedric nearly scores an absurd own goal! Valencia whips a cross in from the right. It’s deep, and met by Cedric on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Cedric tries to volley clear, but shanks the ball off his ankle and looping over Forster towards the top right! Luckily for Saints, the ball squirts wide of the post. A corner, which ...
89 min: Down the other end, Romeu bundles Emenike over, 30 yards from goal. Nervous tension erupts into celebration as Valencia wastes the free kick, hoicking it high into the stand.
88 min: Romeu dances down the middle of the park, draws two West Ham defenders, and flicks the ball between them to set Austin free on goal! He’s got to score, but slams his low shot wide of the right-hand post. What an opportunity to put the game to bed!
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87 min: Byram should be walking for a late and dangerous stamp on Bertrand’s ankle. That was a potential breaker. He’s very lucky to just see yellow.
86 min: Payet chips down the inside-right channel to release Byram into the box. But Bertrand steps across him, guides the ball back to Forster, and it turns out Byram was offside anyway. That was decent defending, though, because Bertrand wasn’t to know the flag was going up.
84 min: Valencia has a rash whack from a ridiculous angle to the right of the Saints box. That flies into the crowd. The clock is quickly becoming Southampton’s friend. “Still feels strange, as a Leeds fan, to watch Sam Byram walk around in a West Ham shirt,” writes Ezra Finkelstein. “Starting to feel like Southampton fans at a Liverpool game.” Though unlike Leeds with the very promising Byram, Saints got the better of their particular deals, huh.
83 min: A free kick for Saints in the middle of the park. Pressure relieved, though Clasie is booked for kicking the ball away to eat up a little time.
82 min: West Ham are flinging crosses into the Saints area from both flanks, but every one is being met by a Saints defender. The home side are looking solid enough when it comes to the crunch, but how long can they deal with this relentless probing?
80 min: From the set piece, Song drifts a cross in from the left. Forster barges his way through a crowd to rise and claim. That’s fine keeping with his team creaking at the back. West Ham are soon coming back at Saints, and this time Song is attempting to curl one into the top right from distance. It’s well over the bar.
79 min: Clasie curls the corner into the box. Collins heads it back to him. Clasie curls it in again, straight down Adrian’s throat this time. And West Ham are instantly back on the attack, winning a corner down the left.
78 min: Austin goes chasing after a long Romeu pass down the left. He’s only got Long in the middle, so tries a shot instead. The ball clanks off Collins and out for a corner. Saints will take this, because the pressure’s been relentless of late.
76 min: Cresswell crosses from the left. Carroll slides in but can’t connect. Valencia picks up the ball on the right, drifts in, and attempts a curler into the top left. It deflects into the path of Carroll, but once again the big man can’t react in time. The home crowd, sensing a session of attack-versus-defence is underway, get behind their team in the grand style.
75 min: Valencia, out on the right, curls a stupendous cross onto the head of Emenike, who is six yards from goal. He heads powerfully wide right. Had that been on target, Forster would have had no time to react.
74 min: Payet, conducting from deep, wands a floated ball down the inside-right. Yoshida heads back to his keeper, though Valencia very nearly nipped in to intercept.
73 min: A couple of changes. Saints replace Pelle with Austin, while West Ham send on Emenike in Antonio’s wake.
72 min: Now Song has a go, attempting to shovel a chip into the top right from the left-hand of the D, having spotted Forster off his line. Nope.
71 min: West Ham are enjoying the lion’s share of possession right now. Saints are holding their shape well, though. After a session of sterile passing this way and that, Noble has a whack from distance. Nope.
69 min: It’s lashing down on the south coast. Pretty football’s at a premium, as a result.
67 min: Valencia slides in on the back of Romeu. That’s a yellow card all day long, although of course in this climate the Saints fans want a red to level things up. They’re not getting it, and howls ping around the stands. Yellow will have to suffice.
66 min: Free kick for Saints out on the right. Bertrand looks for van Dijk, on the penalty spot. He finds his man, but van Dijk is leaning back, and Collins isn’t giving him an inch. The ball sails out for a goal kick.
64 min: Collins misjudges the flight of a long ball down the middle of the park, and allows Long to tear clear of the defender down the inside-left channel. Long reaches the box and sends a riser, meant for the top left, just over the crossbar. A fine chance to give ten-man Saints a two-goal cushion they may well need.
63 min: Byram has a little space down the right. He’s got Carroll in the middle to aim for. A big target, but the young man slides his cross into the arms of Forster.
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61 min: West Ham swap Moses for Carroll. And as they’re making the change, Tomkins limps off, so Byram has to come on as well.
59 min: Space for Bertrand down the left. He’s looking for Long in the middle, and would have found him too, were it not for Collins, who blocks the cross with a John Terry style low flying header.
56 min: Saints, down to ten men, sacrifice Mane for Romeu. The home crowd respond to the sending off with defiance: it’s the loudest they’ve been all night.
RED CARD! (Wanyama 54)
This is a preposterous challenge. Payet is wandering through the centre circle. Wanyama decides to go after a ball he’s never going to reach. He lumbers after Payet and, with both feet off the ground, scissors his leg. Clumsy and mistimed rather than malicious or aggressive, but potentially dangerous and incredibly stupid: Payet was in the middle of the field going nowhere, with the Saints back line in perfect position! The referee had no choice. Why on earth did he go flying in?!
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52 min: Valencia gamely chases after a long ball down the right, enters the box, and trundles a weak shot towards the bottom right. Forster is never going to be beaten at his near post with that. Simon Mignolet in the cup on Tuesday, maybe, but not Forster tonight.
51 min: Yoshida tugs Valencia to the ground as the striker looks to spin off down the inside-right channel. A free kick, and a chance for the Hammers to load the box. Payet’s delivery isn’t up to much, for once, and Long heads back upfield without too much fuss. There’s not a whole lot happening. This match had been clattering along nicely for a while, but now, not so much.
50 min: West Ham have started a scrappy second half slightly the stronger. Antonio bursts into the Saints box down the right and nearly works himself a shooting position, but a combination of Bertrand and Yoshida crowds him out.
47 min: Van Dijk comes in from the back and stands on Valencia’s ankle. It looked clumsy rather than malicious, and the West Ham man looks to be OK after a small yelp of pain and a grimace. The referee takes no action, which is probably fair enough.
And we're off again!
No changes at the break. The visitors get the ball rolling for the second half.
Half-time entertainment: Here’s a goalfest between the two sides at the Dell in 1971. West Ham are three goals up, on the attack and ... oh!
HALF TIME: Southampton 1-0 West Ham United
And that’s your lot for the first half. Saints started very strongly, very much deserving their early lead. West Ham came back at them, though: they should have had a penalty, while Forster made a stunning save from Reid. So West Ham will feel a little aggrieved at going in behind. All of which should make for an exciting second half, no?
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45 min: Mane, in a pocket of space outside the West Ham box, has a chance to shoot. He inexplicably instead tries to thread a pass down the inside-left channel for Long, and it’s easily cut out by Tomkins and cleared upfield.
43 min: Collins plays a risky ball back to Adrian, who is nearly closed down by Mane. Nearly, but not quite. To the soundtrack of a few pantomime ooooooohs, the keeper belts clear. It’s a pretty tame end to the half, truth be told. Not a lot going on.
42 min: Moses zips past Calsie down the left and earns a corner. Payet takes. Pelle clears. Reid tries to dispatch the ball back towards goal with force. His shot is blocked. Saints try to break upfield but soon lose possession. This is all a bit scrappy right now.
39 min: A break in play as Long gets a little treatment after getting his ankle accidentally clipped by Antonio. In the stand, West Ham owner David Sullivan is wearing a similar sable hat to the one once sported by George Costanza.
36 min: A corner for West Ham on the left now. Payet takes. He again finds his pal Reid, who tries to flick a header backwards while level with the left-hand post. The ball flies over the crossbar. But the Hammers are beginning to get back into this, after a slow start. The home fans are quiet and anxious right now.
35 min: A set piece for West Ham out on the right. Another chance for Payet to do his thing. The ball drops to Reid, on the penalty spot, a fine delivery. Reid seems surprised that it’s got over a thicket of players, though, and fails to control. A chance to get a shot away spurned.
32 min: A free kick for Saints, 40 yards from goal in a central position, the result of Collins having mounted Long. But Saints faff around with a load of over-elaborate nonsense, allowing West Ham to intercept and flood upfield. Payet has space down the left, but screws a strange cross miles right of the Saints goal, Valencia in the middle given no chance of meeting it.
29 min: ... Saints nearly score on a break upfield. Mane eats up most of the pitch and slides the ball right to Long. West Ham are light at the back. Saints have a man advantage, three on two. Long plays a weak pass down the right flank for Pelle, and all momentum is lost. Pelle does manage to chip a cross into the box, but by this time Collins is back in place to head clear with Mane lurking.
28 min: Payet is going nowhere down the left, but Wanyama clumsily and impatiently clatters into his back, and that’s a free kick. West Ham load the box. Payet whips it to the near post. Reid glances it at speed towards the bottom right. A fine effort, but Forster parries it out, a stunning save. Song latches onto the rebound and shoots. The ball deflects out for a corner, from which ...
27 min: A bit of space for Antonio out on the right. He gets past Bertrand and fires low into the six-yard box, but Fonte is the first man to the ball and skelps clear. It’s an enjoyable end-to-end affair, this. Both teams have turned up with attacking very much in mind.
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25 min: A free kick for Saints out on the right. Bertrand curls it into the danger zone. West Ham can’t clear, but Pelle can’t get a firm connection amid a melee. The ball squirts out of the area to Clasie, who has a speculative prod from 20 yards. The shot hits Mane, who takes the sting out of it. The ball lands softly in Adrian’s arms.
23 min: Noble lifts a long ball down the inside-right channel. Valencia chases after it. He goes down inside the box, having been clipped on his studs by Yoshida, who was on his shoulder making sure he couldn’t get a shot away. That should have been a penalty kick. In fairness to the referee, Valencia didn’t complain much, though the same can’t be said for his manager, who is on the touchline with smoke billowing out of his lugholes.
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21 min: Payet, out on the right touchline, hoicks an up and under into the Saints box. For a second, it looks like it might Konchesky its way over Forster on an absurd arc and into the top left. But the ball drifts over the bar, and the keeper probably had it covered anyway.
19 min: A free kick for Saints that’s effectively a corner, near the flag on the left, Noble having upended Bertrand. A dangerous position, but it’s wasted by Fonte, who is penalised for climbing all over his marker when contesting the ball that’s chipped into the mixer.
17 min: Moses drifts in from the left and keeps going. Eventually he tries a shot from 30 yards. It balloons off Fonte and into the sky. Eventually it comes back down. Forster gathers well, considering the conditions.
16 min: A nice duel between Bertrand and Antonio down the Saints left flank. Bertrand very nearly skins his man on the outside. But Antonio stays firm, and eventually prises the ball off Bertrand, before racing back upfield with purpose. Bertrand tracks back, and returns the favour, easing Antonio off the ball.
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14 min: A little bit of possession for West Ham at last. But it’s all in the middle of the field. They go nowhere. Still, small acorns and all that.
12 min: Van Dijk goes on a Beckenbauer style dribble down the middle. He flicks the ball wide right for Cedric, who curls a cross deep. Pelle rises, ten yards from goal, but can’t keep the header down and it’s wide left as well. West Ham need to wake up quickly, because Saints could already be a couple of goals to the good.
GOAL! Southampton 1-0 West Ham United (Yoshida 9)
Saints have a corner out on the left. The ball ends up on the right wing. Mane, out on the touchline, flicks the ball inside for Wanyama, who drives into the box from the side. He looks to have overrun it, but prods it between a couple of blue shirts and into the centre where Yoshida is in a pocket of space in front of goal! It’s a doddle for him to hammer home. Saints deserve the lead after a very positive start to this game.
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8 min: Long, out wide on the left, hoicks a high cross into the West Ham box. Cedric, cutting in from the right, towers above Cresswell and powers a header towards the top left. It’s a brilliant effort, and tipped away by Adrian. Stunning save!
6 min: The rain is driving to such an extent that Song has already had to get rid of his protective goggles. He demonstrates his new clarity of vision by clearing a Southampton corner, won out on the left by Pelle, hit long, then hammered clear.
5 min: Long makes a well-timed bending run down the inside-right channel to spring West Ham’s offside trap, but Mane’s pass down the channel is far too strong. Adrian comes out to claim.
4 min: Saints are looking busy down this right flank. Cedric Soares very nearly bursts clear into space after linking up well with Wanyama, but Song comes across to cover and snuff out the danger. West Ham haven’t seen much of the ball yet.
2 min: Long embarks on a run down the inside-right channel and earns a corner off Reid. Saints load the box. Bertrand tosses the ball into the box but it’s easily cleared by Collins. A bright, if not particularly dramatic, start.
And we're off!
It’s coming down in sheets at St Mary’s, and the wind’s up as well. Saints get the ball rolling. Then hit it long and out of play down the right, Six Nations style. Topical.
The teams are out! Southampton are in their traditional red-and-white stripes, while West Ham sport their retro take on that iconic change shirt from the early 70s: light blue with a claret hoop across the chest. There’s a cracking atmosphere at St Mary’s for a game that’s now sixth against ninth, Southampton dropping a couple of places thanks to Everton’s earlier win at Stoke City and Liverpool’s draw with Sunderland. We’ll be off in a minute, but while we wait for kick-off, here’s Raymond Reardon: “West Ham will be hoping their late kick-off results for 2015-16 continue, after a 2-1 win at the Etihad, a 2-2 draw at Upton Park with Manchester City, and a 2-1 win at Upton Park over Southampton. Unfortunately for West Ham they haven’t been a allocated any more late kick-offs for the rest of the season after this match. Maybe they could petition for more late kick-offs when they move to the Olympic Stadium next season.” Who knows what’s possible when you’ve got friends in high places. Of course Saints have had success in this time slot too: remember their evisceration of Chelsea, and the subsequent seven-minute-long live televised launch of Jose Mourinho’s exit strategy? So it’s all to play for tonight.
Ronald Koeman speaks! “We have kept a lot of clean sheets in the last few weeks, and it increases confidence. We know we can score. But we also have good defensive organisation. The whole team is working well, and we have the spirit required to win games.”
Slaven Bilic speaks! “We are improving. We are more consistent. But we know we have to be on the top of our game. We are playing a team that in December was not that good, points wise, but recently they have three wins and a draw, and some clean sheets. They are playing at home and are very confident. It’s going to be an extremely big challenge for us.”
Three changes to the Southampton team which started the goalless draw at Arsenal in the week. Jordy Clasie, Maya Yoshida and Graziano Pelle come in at the expense of James Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic and Oriol Romeu.
West Ham make just the one change to the team sent out to beat Aston Villa on Tuesday night. Victor Moses replaces Cheikhou Kouyaté.
This evening's teams
Southampton: Forster, Cedric Soares, van Dijk, Fonte, Bertrand, Clasie, Wanyama, Mane, Long, Yoshida, Pelle.
Subs: Tadic, Romeu, Martina, Ward-Prowse, Juanmi, Stekelenburg, Austin.
West Ham United: Adrian, Tomkins, Collins, Reid, Cresswell, Noble, Song, Antonio, Payet, Moses, Valencia.
Subs: Randolph, Carroll, Obiang, O’Brien, Byram, Emenike, Oxford.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).
Good evening!
The last four times this fixture has been played, then, starting with the most recent: 0-0, 0-0, 1-1, 1-0. Wait! Come back!
Because here are two teams slowly working their way into the groove. The Saints first. Ronald Koeman’s side looked all over the place for a while back there. During a ten-game run stretching between the tail end of November and early January, they lost eight times. Their only win was a 4-0 home victory which said more about Arsenal’s title hopes than anything else.
But suddenly things have clicked into gear: comfortable home wins over Watford and West Bromwich Albion were followed by a smash-and-grab victory at Manchester United. Then on Tuesday night they earned a point at Arsenal; if Sadio Mane had packed his shooting boots, it could have been four wins in a row.
West Ham would worry, but they’re in a rich vein of form themselves. They’ve lost just once in their last 13 games, a run which includes a 2-1 victory over the Saints just after Christmas. A couple of weekends back, they were the better team in a 2-2 draw with title favourites Manchester City. Since then they’ve ground out a draw at Anfield in the cup, and seen off Aston Villa in the league. They’re sixth in the table, five points clear of the Saints, and within striking distance of the Champions League places.
Seventh versus sixth, then. Two upwardly mobile clubs prepare to do battle. Neither team are rattling in the goals at present, and they’re not letting many in either, so perhaps this will be another tight affair. Still, sequences are there to be broken, and in any case, it promises to be a fascinating tussle between two of the Premier League’s best sides. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm GMT.
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