Crystal Palace vs Southampton. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance25,495.
Report as Crystal Palace lose their third Premier League game in a row
Saturday 1 September 2018 19:28, UK
Second-half strikes from Danny Ings and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg gave Southampton their first win of the Premier League season after they beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Selhurst Park.
Ings slotted in his second Premier League goal of the season (47') before Hojbjerg's injury-time finish (90+2') gave manager Mark Hughes a long-awaited victory in south London.
Substitute Charlie Austin missed from the penalty spot following a handball by Aaron Wan-Bissaka midway through the second half, but the visitors doubled their lead in injury-time to condemn Palace to their third consecutive loss.
Victory for Southampton means they move up into 10th. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, drop down to 15th.
After a lively opening to proceedings, Southampton had the first real opening to score through Shane Long in the 20th minute. Mohamed Elyounoussi's dinked cross fell to the feet of the Republic of Ireland international, but Wan-Bissaka combined with Mamadou Sakho to block what looked destined to be a certain goal.
Benteke squandered a great opportunity to score his first Premier League goal of the season six minutes later to mark a disappointing first half for the former Liverpool striker. Wan-Bissaka's dangerous cross into the box was missed by Alex McCarthy to present Benteke with a free header, but he nodded wide of the post.
With Southampton dominating the possession battle, they almost took the lead through an own goal as Luka Milivojevic's diving header towards his own net had to be brilliantly parried away by Wayne Hennessey.
Just two minutes into the second half, Ings gave Southampton the lead. A lapse of concentration from Sakho and Martin Kelly allowed Cedric's simple ball over the top to reach Ings, who scored his second goal in a Southampton shirt.
Southampton had the ideal opportunity to go two up when Wan-Bissaka's handball gifted Mark Hughes' side a spot-kick in the 64th minute, but Austin's penalty was saved by Hennessey's boot. Moments later, the Wales goalkeeper produced a fantastic save as he denied Nathan Redmond's close-range effort before Elyounoussi smashed his close-range rebound onto the bar.
Benteke could have levelled the game in the final minute, but his point-blank header was superbly denied by McCarthy's feet. With Palace leaving themselves exposed at the back as they pushed for an equaliser in injury time, Hojbjerg capped off a fast Southampton counter-attack to double their lead - and his first Premier League goal - to secure the visitors a valuable three points.
Ings was a constant thorn in the Crystal Palace defence and gave Southampton a much-needed confidence boost when he calmly put Hughes' side in front shortly after the break.
His link-up play with Long and substitute Charlie Austin caused the Palace centre-back pairing of Sakho and Kelly plenty of problems and he could be set for a prolific season should he remain injury-free.
Roy Hodgson: "There's nothing that has been happening in our training or the way we've been approaching games which would suggest that we wouldn't be as good as we'd be in the first three games but we certainly weren't.
"It might just be that football does things to you sometimes and we came across a very determined, aggressive and athletic Southampton team who ask questions of us and unfortunately for us, we weren't able to supply the answers."
Mark Hughes: "Palace have got a lot of good players they can call upon but it was more about us being able to control the game for long periods.
"Everybody is in a better frame of mind when you can win before an international break and we've been able to do it. That will help our confidence when everybody comes back in 10 days or so."
Crystal Palace travel to Huddersfield after the international break for a 3pm kick-off on September 15. Southampton host Brighton on Monday Night Football on September 17 - live on Sky Sports Premier League.
