Southampton vs Everton. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance30,461.
Sunday 26 November 2017 20:34, UK
Southampton heaped more misery on Everton with an emphatic 4-1 victory at St Mary's in the Premier League on Super Sunday.
Charlie Austin scored two second-half headers (52, 58) after Gylfi Sigurdsson's brilliant effort (45) had earlier cancelled out Dusan Tadic's 18th-minute opener for the home side - before Steven Davis curled in a late fourth with a fine finish three minutes from time.
Everton have now won only one of their last 12 matches in all competitions and remain 16th in the Premier League, two points above the relegation zone, while Southampton climb to 10th.
Austin, starting a Premier League game for the first time this season, would have a hat-trick to his name if he'd converted one of two good chances in the opening 12 minutes. Firstly, he scuffed a presentable chance over the bar following a corner, before striking the post from seven yards as he attempted to steer home a Cedric Soares cut-back.
But the opener arrived on 18 minutes when Tadic received Ryan Bertrand's through-ball and took one touch to fend off Leighton Baines before deftly slipping the ball past Jordan Pickford with his left foot.
Southampton dominated the first 45 minutes, but Sigurdsson conjured up a sensational Everton equaliser just before the break, curling home from 20 yards with the ball dramatically striking the bar, the post and the bar again before crossing the line.
However, the game was ultimately settled by two simple headed goals shortly after half-time. Austin restored Southampton's lead within seven minutes of the restart, steering a close-range header across Pickford from Bertrand's left-wing cross.
And things got even worse for Everton when Idrissa Gueye lost possession six minutes later, affording Tadic time and space on the left to cross for Austin to head in his second and Southampton's third.
The fourth arrived in the 87th minute when Davis curled past Pickford from the edge of the area after excellent work from James Ward-Prowse and Soares in the build-up.
Wayne Rooney remained a frustrated observer from the substitutes' bench as Southampton cruised to victory and with David Unsworth picking up just four points from his four league games in charge, Everton's need to appoint a new full-time manager now seems more urgent than ever.
Austin's eight previous Premier League appearances this season had all come from the bench and the striker evidently had a point to prove after being awarded a rare start by Mauricio Pellegrino. He made that point in style and despite spurning two early chances, he settled this match with two textbook headers shortly after the break.
Sky Sports' commentator Alan Smith picked him out as the shining light in a Southampton team full of impressive performers, saying: "There have been plenty of candidates; Bertrand, Boufal and Tadic have all done really well, but Austin was the matchwinner with the second and third goals to take the match away from Everton. They were superb goals."
Mauricio Pellegrino (Southampton): "Austin has trained much, much better in the last few weeks and I think he deserved his chance. You have to be ready because you never know when the manager will need you to be ready."
David Unsworth (Everton): "I can't stand here and defend the players today. It was a totally unacceptable performance, especially in the second half, and the Everton fans are quite rightly going to be furious with that but so am I. It's not good enough for our football club."
"With Everton, there's no defensive urgency. There's no urgency to get blocks in and stop the opposition doing what they want to do. There's no game plan either going forward or defensively and I'm struggling to work out what Everton are looking to do with the team they put out.
"They are talking about getting another manager in but the problem is the personnel they've got. What XI can you put out to maybe grind out a 0-0 draw, maybe to outplay the opposition? Like I said, Everton have no game plan and they can't seem to do anything well so you can get Marco Silva in, you could even get Pep Guardiola in but what on earth would he do with that bunch of players?"
Everton have two home games against West Ham (Wednesday) and Huddersfield (Saturday) in the next week, while Southampton travel to leaders Man City on Wednesday before making the short trip to Bournemouth on Super Sunday.
