Dean Smith: “It was a difficult night,” he tells Sky Sports. “In the first half we gave the ball away too cheaply. We didn’t play with the quality we can go. When you get 6/10s throughout the pitch you won’t win a game in the Premier League.
“We had to pin their centre-backs and full-backs because they had too much ball in our half. We went two up front to change it round. The subs made an impact. Southampton are a high pressing team and their numbers drop off. We knew we’d get some joy in the second half.
“It’s been a disappointment tonight because so many players played below the standards they have played. It’s frustrating. Southampton are a very good team that recently held Man City and only lost once at home this season. They played well tonight.”
Ralph Hasenhüttl: ““We had a lot of chances against an organised opponent,” he tells Sky Sports. “It was a tight game. We were able to adapt our game and have different behaviours. That slowed their game down and then we scored our goals.
“We found Angus Gunn was like a magnet today. We had a lot of shots but he was always there and we had to wait for an unbeliveable strike from Oriel.
“It’s an amazing goal. We had a few shots from this position but not all of them were on target. Oriel is super strong, he’s so calm on the ball and he’s so important for our game. When he starts scoring goals we can’t ask for more.
“These are the toughest wins to get, against teams where everyone expects you to win. The last two teams coming here were in a relegation battle and we won 2-0 with a clean sheet. People think it’s easy but it’s not.”
Match report: Southampton 2-0 Norwich City
Premier League: “On this evidence, the remainder of the season promises to be a slog [for Norwich] and it would have been a travesty had Southampton only came away with a slender victory,” writes Ben Fisher from St Mary’s.
Oriel Romeu: “Today was a tricky one,” the scorer of Southmpton’s second goal tells Sky. “Everyone expected us to win but it wasn’t easy. Norwich played really well and put us under a lot of pressure but we managed to find our solutions and play a good game.”
James Ward-Prowse: “Going back to the summer, I think we recruited really well,” the Southampton midfielder says on Sky Sports. “The squad has got a lot of depth to it now. Last year if we lost two or three players we didn’t have that depth to step in.
“The squad is good, with a good blend of youth and experience. Everybody who steps up has delivered. It’s a great team to be part of and it’s very exciting moving forward.”
Che Adams: “Every game is difficult but we performed well and kept our standards high,” he tells the BBC. “Oriel tries that kind of thing once a game and I’m buzzing for him that he’s finally got his goal. For my goal Tino crossed it in and I got a touch on it and managed to scoop it in. If I’d gone low and hard the defender probably would have stopped it.”
On Southampton’s good form: “We’ve always worked hard,” he says. “Our pressing is one of the best in the league and when we get that right not many teams can play through it. We all had an agreement before the season to improve on last season. We have to take it game by game and see where we end up.”
Some stats: Southampton had 27 shots compared to Norwich’s eight, nine of which were on target comp[ared to Norwich’s one. Southampton’s xG was 2.66 compared to Norwich’s 0.40 and the hosts had 52 touches in their visitor’s penalty area compared to Norwich’s 15. Saints also enjoyed 59% possession, compared to Norwich’s 41%.
Full time: Southampton 2-0 Norwich City
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeeeep! Southampton run out comfortable winners, notching up their eighth Premier League win of the season in the face of feeble resistance from Norwich City. It’s their 17th top flight defeat of the season and keeps them well adrift of safety. Che Adams and Oriel Romeu got the goals that move Southampton up to ninth in the table.
Updated
90+3 min: Southampton substitution: Moussa Djeneppo on for Stuart Armstrong.
90+1 min: Brandon Williams is booked for a foul on Armstrong.
89 min: Time after time this evening, the ball has been cleared from Southampton corners by Norwich players, only to drop to a player in red and white stripes standing alone on the edge of the area. This time the player in question is Oriel Romeu, who shows great technique to spank a volley past Angus Gunn.
GOAL! Southampton 2-0 Norwich City (Romeu 88 min)
Game, set and match Southampton. Oriel Romeu doubles their lead with a fine strike.
Updated
87 min: Elyounoussi stings the palms of Gunn with a shot towards the near post.
86 min: Lees-Melou curls a speculative delivery through the Southampton penalty area and a foot or so wide of the far post.
84 min: Southampton have a free-kick just outside the Norwich penalty area for a foul perpetrated on Che Adams just before his departure. James Ward-Prowse shoots narrowly wide, scaring the bejaysus out of Norwich goalkeeper Angus Gunn in the process.
83 min: Southampton substitution: Shane Long on for Che Adams.
81 min: Norwich substitution: Kieran Dowell on for Billy Gilmour. Southampton substitution: Jack Stephens on for Armando Broja. Saints switch to three at the back.
80 min: Possibly because they didn’t stop for an impromptu time-out between the 60th and 70th minutes, Southampton are looking a little vulnerable having been in almost total control of the game for the opening 70 minutes.
79 min: Back in his own penalty area, Hanley blocks the ball again, preventing Broja from drilling the ball across the face of the Norwich goal.
77 min: With his team looking more dangerous than they have at any other time in the game (admittedly, the bar is low), it’s head in hands time for Norwich manager Dean Smith as he watches Grant Hanley steer a difficult chance wide of the upright with his head.
76 min: Southampton attack on the break, with Armstrong playing the ball on to Armando Broja, who finds himself through on goal. He’s foiled by good work from Brandon Williams and Angus Gunn but the flag was up anyway. Offside.
75 min: Mohammed Salisu puts the ball out for a corner which is cleared in instalments.
74 min: Josh Sargent advances on the Southampton penalty area but is forced wide by Kyle Walker-Peters and has to settle for a throw-in.
73 min: Fraser Forster comfortably gathers a cross floated into the penalty area by Billy Gilmour.
71 min: Norwich City double-substitution: Lukas Rupp and Pierre Lees-Melou replace Mathias Norman and Milot Rashica.
69 min: Kyle Walker-Peters volleys a dropping ball straight at Angus Gunn from 10 yards yards, before Stuart Armstrong sends another long-range effort fizzing wide.
68 min: Already on a yellow card, Mohammed Salisu does exceptionally well to get back, slide in and cleanly dispossess Milot Rashica with a risky, perfectly timed tackle as the Kosovar bore down on the Southampton penalty area.
66 min: Stuart Armstrong unleashes a fierce dipping shot from the edge of the Norwich City penalty area. Angus Gunn saves.
64 min: Norwich City remain in the game while simultaneously looking like they could play until midnight without scoring. Where there’s life there’s hope, of course ... but another Southampton goal would almost certainly put this game to bed.
61 min: Grant Hanley has had a busy evening on the blocking and clearing front. His latest intervention is a block that prevents Kyle Walker-Peters from squaring the ball for Che Adams to tap in.
60 min: Past the hour mark we go. Let’s keep our eyes peeled for any Southampton players going down “hurt” in the next 10 minutes in order to allow their team-mates to take on board fluids, energy gels and tactical instruction from Ralph Hassenhuttl. Of course now their alleged ruse appears to have been rumbled by a hawk-eyed reporter from The Athletic, they might not chance it.
59 min: Teemu Pukki gets a rare chance to run at the Southampton defence only to be dispossessed by Tin Livramento as he tried to play the ball into the penalty area. Puklki hauls the Saints full-back to the ground, earning himself a yellow card.
58 min: Southampton corner. Ward-Prowse’s ball to the near post finds its way into the hands of Angus Gunn.
Updated
57 min: Southampton win a free-kick wide on the left. Ward-Prowse sends the ball into the penalty area, Jan Bednarek gets his head to it and Kenny McLean clears for the visitors.
54 min: Brandon Williams screams in pain after hoofing the ball and ramming his instep into the studs of an opponent on the follow-through. That’s a sore one but he soldiers on.
52 min: Kenny McLean wins a corner for Norwich, who look completely bereft of ideas. Nothing comes of it and Southampton advance upfield. James Ward-Prowse curls a dangerous ball into the Corridor of Uncertainty behind the Norwich defence, forcing Angus Gunn out of his area to head the ball clear.
49 min: Southampton win a corner and go close to scoring. Ward-Prowse’s delivery is helped towards the far post by Jan Bednarek, where Che Adams fails to connect cleanly under pressure from Brandon Williams. Another corner for Southampton.
47 min: Southampton win a throw-in deep in Norwich territory. Southampton’s one-man Trebuchet, Mohammed Salisu, opts to sit this one out and Kyle-Walker Peters takes the ball instead.
Second half: Southampton 1-0 Norwich City
46 min: Play resumes with no changes in personnel on either side.
Barney Ronay: We have been expertly played by Vladimir Putin. Now he is raining death down on Ukraine, and sport has served its purpose in him being able to create this horrifying moment.
Half-time: Southampton 1-0 Norwich City
Peep! A fairly pedestrian half that won’t live long in anyone’s memory draws to a close, with Southampton leading by the only goal of the game. It was scrambled home by Che Adams to give Saints a deserved lead in a game they have dominated quite comfortably.
Updated
45+1 min: Southampton play it long through Fraser Forster and James Ward-Prowse plays the ball into the path of Mohamed Elyounoussi in a good shooting position. He drags his low shot wide of the far post in the last action of the half.
45 min: Walker-Peters and Broja link up down the inside-left but the latter fires into the side-netting from a very tight angle.
43 min: James Ward-Prowse advances from midfield and plays the ball wide to Kyle Walker-Peters. There appear to be four or five Grant Hanleys in the Norwich City rearguard and one of them puts the ball out for a corner. Nothing comes of it, what with Ward-Prowse’s delivery being cleared by another of them.
Updated
39 min: Mohammed Salisu is booked for a cynical foul on Kenny McLean that brings a vaguely promising Norwich City counter-attack to an abrupt end.
Updated
38 min: It was scrappy but they all count. Angus Gunn stuck out a leg to intercept the ball after it was squared by Tino Livramento, but it cannoned off a defender and bounced towards goal. Norwich tried to scramble clear, failed and amid the chaos Che Adams managed to hook the ball goalwards despite being sat on his backside inside the six-yard box.
GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Norwich City (Adams 35)
Southampton take the lead, with Che Adams scooping the ball into the net from a sitting position after a goalmouth scramble.
Updated
34 min: James Ward-Prowse picks out Che Adams at the far post with a corner kick but the striker doesn’t get enough power on his downward header. Southampton have squandered two good chances in quick succession.
33 min: Elyounoussi crosses the ball into the Norwich penalty area, it bounces between two defenders and is played out towards James Ward-Prowse. He whips it into the penalty area, where Broja shoots straight at Gunn.
29 min: Ben Gibson blocks a low Armstrong cross to put the ball out for another Southampton corner. Grant Hanley clears, albeit unconvincingly. The ball breraks to Armstrong on the edge of the area and his low drive takes a deflection. In the Norwich goal, Angus Gunn does well to adhjust his feet, switch direction and prevent the ball going past him.
28 min: Billy Gilmour’s outswinger finds its way back to him, he sends it into the Southampton penalty area again and the hosts clear. A promising Saints counter-attack breaks down when Stuart Armstrong miscues a pass.
27 min: Norman tries his luck with a shot from distance but his effort is deflected high over the bar. Corner for Norwich.
26 min: Mathias Norman dinks the ball into the Southampton penalty area, trying to stand it up for Josh Sargent. Fraser Forster comes off his line to punch clear before the American can get his head to it.
24 min: Southampton remain camped in and around the Norwich penalty area but are creating little in the way of chances beyond speculative long-range efforts. For all that, you feel a goal is coming.
Updated
23 min: Kyle Walker-Peters unleashes a surface-to-air drive from outside the Norwich penalty area that stings the palms of Angus Gunn but doesn’t unduly trouble the goalkeeper.
20 min: Still turning the screw, Southampton win a throw-in deep in Norwich territory. Salisu “Delaps” it into the penalty area, where Hanley heads clear. Ward-Prowseruns on to the ball bouncing a few yards outside the penalty area only to welly it high over the bar and possibly the stand.
19 min: Stuart Armstrong tries to slalom his way through the Norwich penalty area and wins his side a corner. Norwich fail to clear convincingly and concede another set-piece at the opposite flag.
17 min: More pressure from Southampton, who advance down the right. James Ward-Prowse whips the ball into the penalty area but it bounces towards the left touchline, where Kyle Walker-Peters takes possession.
15 min: Armando Broja takes advantage of a McLean miscue to steal the ball, advance and shoot low, hard and straight at Angus Gunn, who saves comfortably. Brandon Williams didn’t do his Scottish team-mate any favours there, sending a hard hospital pass his way under pressure that McLean was unable to control properly.
13 min: Nearly 15 minutes in and Southampton have dominated possession to an extent that will alarm Norwich fans, who have seen their side waste the one good scoring chance of the game so far. It’s quite cagey out on the St Mary’s pitch.
Updated
10 min: Teemu Pukki runs into space down by the corner flag, cuts inside and tees up Josh Sargent. His low drive, the first decent scoring opportunity of the game, is blocked by the outstretched foot of Salisu. BIlly Gilmour shoots on the follow-up but sends his effort well wide.
Updated
8 min: Brandon Williams gallops up the inside left out of his own feet with the ball at his feet and tries to play it on to Kenny McLean, only for Tino Livramento to catch the midfielder napping, steal in and burst upfield. Poor from Norwich, who are struggling to keep hold of the ball.
6 min: James Ward-Prowse takes the corner, Che Adams gets a touch but Norwich clear.
5 min: Southampton play the ball wide from midfield and Mohamed Elyounoussi and Kyle Walker-Peters combine. The full-back tries to cross the ball into the penalty area but the ball is put out for a corner.
3 min: Southampton win a throw-in deep in Norwich territory and Mohammed Salisu chucks the ball long into the penalty area. Grant Hanley clears.
2 min: Armando Broja gallops down the right flank chasing a ball played in behind Brandon Williams. He looks to have the beating of the full-back but bundles him over and concedes a free-kick.
Southampton v Norwich City is go ...
1 min: Norwich City get the ball rolling on a pleasant night at St Mary’s and it’s immediately lumped towards the right flank. Saints left-back Kyle Walker-Peters heads it out for a throw-in.
Updated
Not long now: As a brass band makes its way down the St Mary’s touchline playing When The Saints Go Marching In, the players of both teams make their way on to the pitch, sadly unencumbered by trombones, tubas or trumpets. They line up either side of Simon Hooper and his team of match officials ahead of the last of the pre-match formalities.
Some correspondence: “Cheers for the football tonight, especially tonight - it’s a nice distraction from being glued to the news and trying to plot a way out of Ukraine right now,” writes Shaun, who describes himself as English guy stuck in Ukraine with a beautiful lady and a beautiful cat. “I look forward to hearing the crowd at the game just to get the air raid sirens noise (twice today) out of my bloody head.”
What to say that doesn’t sound glib or trite, apart from wishing Shaun his partner and their cat all the very best? Our thoughts are with you, so please try to stay safe.
From today’s weekend preview: “Someone far more observant than this column recently noticed that Southampton appear to have devised a clever, completely legal mid-game tactic that involves one of their players going down “injured” between the 60th and 70th minute, at which point their teammates adjourn to the sideline to receive energy gels and tactical instruction from Ralph Hasenhüttl and his backroom team.
“Should it occur on Friday evening, we can but hope it won’t be the most interesting talking point to arise from their match against Norwich, but it has piqued our curiosity and is the first of our now traditional 10 things to look out for this weekend.”
The war in Ukraine: If you’re catching up the day’s football news, Uefa have switched this season’s Champions League final from St Petersburg to Paris on the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while Spartak Moscow will be forced to play the home leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie against RB Leipzig at a neutral venue. Closer to home, Manchester United have ended their multi-million sponsorship deal with the Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot.
Southampton v Norwich City line-ups
Southampton: Forster, Livramento, Bednarek, Salisu, Walker-Peters, Stuart Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Elyounoussi, Adams, Broja.
Subs: Stephens, Long, Adam Armstrong, Perraud, Djenepo, Diallo, Walcott, Lewis, Valery.
Norwich: Gunn, Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Williams, Gilmour, Normann, McLean, Sargent, Pukki, Rashica.
Subs: Krul, Byram, Zimmermann, Rupp, Dowell, Placheta, Lees Melou, Giannoulis, Rowe.
Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire)
🚨 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🚨
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) February 25, 2022
▪️ Smith names unchanged starting XI
▪️ Krul and Rupp return to the bench
▪️ McGovern and Kabak make way#NCFC | #SOUNOR pic.twitter.com/rgaXj7Vvci
Our Friday night line-up ✨
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) February 25, 2022
Here's the team taking on #NCFC at St Mary's: pic.twitter.com/0lqTwfGEZc
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Simon Hooper.
Assistants: Simon Long and Nick Hopton.
Fourth official: Graham Scott.
VAR: Jarred Gillett.
Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis.
Feature: Ralph Hasenhüttl’s work at Southampton is more than three years old and he has developed an expressive and hungry team who are easy on the eye. Ben Fisher spoke to the Austrian manager at St Mary’s ...
Early team news
Southampton winger Nathan Tella remains sidelined with a groin injury and will be out for at least another week after suffering a setback in his recovery. Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy is also out with a thigh injury.
Norwich have injury woes of their own after losing striker Adam Idah to a knee injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season. The Irishman’s compatriot Andrew Omobamidele has also been ruled out indefinitely with a back injury. Along with goalkeeper Tim Krul, midfielders Lukas Rupp and Jakob Sorensen are expected to be available for selection tonight following spells in the treatment room.
Premier League: Southampton v Norwich City
St Mary’s is the venue for the first of this weekend’s eight top flight games, with Southampton hosting Norwich City. The visitors are bottom of the table and in dire need of a win, as various fellow strugglers start to show long overdue signs of life in their efforts to pull themselves clear of the drop zone.
Having taken eight points from the past 12 available, Southampton are on a decent run of form as they welcome a Norwich side that arrive on the back of predictable defeats against Liverpool and Manchester City, the two best sides in the division. Kick-off at St Mary’s is at 8pm (GMT) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
