SHANE LONG COMPLETED Southampton’s dominant 4 – 0 win over Sunderland in the Premier League.
Manolo Gabbiadini marked his Saints debut with a goal in a 3-1 defeat against West Ham last weekend and, after the visitors had weathered an early storm at the Stadium of Light, he became just the second Saints player to score in his first two Premier League matches.
Gabbiadini perhaps used his arm to open the scoring on the half-hour, although in real time it would have been difficult for referee Paul Tierney to spot an offence, but there was nothing contentious about his second.
The 25-year-old showed quick feet to bamboozle Lamine Kone and kept his cool to beat Vito Mannone to make it six goals in his last five outings for Napoli and Saints.
David Moyes’ men – who are now heading for a mid-season break in New York – were brought back down to earth after last week’s 4-0 win over Crystal Palace and remain bottom of the league.
The Black Cats almost shot themselves in the foot when Billy Jones’ poor backpass fell to Gabbiadini, who snatched at the ball and shot wide. Sunderland’s possession yielded little in terms of chances allowing Saints to grow into the game and Cedric Soares had wastefully drilled wide by the time the deadlock was broken.
The ball was worked left to Ryan Bertrand and his first-time cross was diverted home at the near post by Gabbiadini, with the striker possibly using his upper arm. And Sunderland’s mood worsened on the stroke of half-time as Gabbiadini collected Dusan Tadic’s pass in the area and sharply turned Kone, who was beaten too easily, before side-footing past Mannone.
Early in the second half, Gabbiadini hooked an effort from James Ward-Prowse’s corner at Mannone. Sunderland offered little in reply and Mannone had to be alert when Tadic cut in from the right and stung the goalkeeper’s palms. Ward-Prowse wastefully headed wide from Nathan Redmond’s clipped cross as Saints sought a third, before Gabbiadini was replaced by Long.
Long brought the best out of Mannone with a powerful header that was tipped over the top, while at the other end Didier Ndong had tentative claims for a penalty for a trip from Oriol Romeu waved away.
However, Denayer turned in Bertrand’s low cross to make it 3-0 in the 89th minute and Sunderland’s defence was carved open again as Long played a neat one-two with Ward-Prowse before calmly placing his shot past Mannone to complete a dominant win in stoppage time.
Meanwhile, West Brom salvaged a 2-2 draw against West Ham in a thrilling match at the London Stadium. Nacer Chadli struck early for the visiting side, but Sofiane Feghouli levelled before Manuel Lanzini struck what appeared to be the four minutes from time. Deep into injury time, though, Jonny Evans grabbed a leveller.
Joe Allen provided the only goal of the game as Stoke secured a tight home 1 – 0 win over Crystal Palace.
Allen’s cool finish came in the 66th minute after Ramadan Sabhu held the ball up and set up the midfielder to plant the ball in the bottom corner.
In the north-east, Middlesbrough left Everton frustrated as the Toffees followed up their thrilling nine-goal clash with Bournemouth with a stalemate at the Riverside.
