A year on from the infamous 9-0 home shellacking by Leicester, this was stirring evidence of Southampton’s impressive transformation under Ralph Hasenhüttl, whose side ended Everton’s unbeaten start to the season as fine goals by James Ward‑Prowse and Che Adams brought Carlo Ancelotti’s side back down to earth with a bump. Everton were insipid from the moment they fell behind and Lucas Digne’s red card for appearing to rake his studs down Kyle Walker-Peters’ achilles with around 20 minutes to play compounded a frustrating trip south. For Saints, this was the closest thing to a complete performance.
With 39 minutes played, Stuart Armstrong, the beneficiary of Adams’s endeavour and awareness, thought he had added a third. At that point Ancelotti removed his hands from the pockets of his royal blue trench coat and made his feelings known, berating Jordan Pickford for failing to hoover up the initial pass downfield to Adams, always a willing runner. Pickford argued there was no such problem and, as it happened, the assistant referee flagged for offside and the goal was disallowed, but it was an episode symbolic of the kind of chaos that ensued as Southampton carved Everton open.
Written by Ben Fisher at St Mary’s Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/oct/25/southampton-everton-premier-league-match-report under the title “
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