Maya Yoshida scored the only goal of the match as 10-man Southampton beat West Ham United 1-0 in Saturday evening's Premier League clash at St Mary's.
Yoshida made the breakthrough in the ninth minute, but West Ham were boosted early in the second period when Victor Wanyama saw red for a rash challenge on Dimitri Payet.
The visitors could not find a leveller, however, as Southampton made it five consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League with their fourth win in five matches, which has moved them into seventh position in the table, just one spot behind West Ham.
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Southampton started on the front foot and had an excellent chance to make the breakthrough in the eighth minute when Cedric Soares met a deep cross from Shane Long, but West Ham stopper Adrian saved.
The Saints had the lead less than one minute later, however, when Wanyama poked a low cross into Yoshida and the centre-back swept his effort past Adrian from close range.
The returning Graziano Pelle also came close for the hosts inside 12 minutes, but the Italian international could only head a Cedric cross wide of the post as West Ham struggled to settle on the south coast.
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The visitors had a strong penalty claim in the 23rd minute when Enner Valencia went down inside the box under a clumsy challenge from Yoshida, but referee Mark Clattenburg was not interested.
West Ham's first serious chance of the match came just before the 30-minute mark when Winston Reid met a free kick from Payet, but in-form Fraser Forster was on hand to make a one-handed save.
The Hammers grew into the game as the first period advanced its latter stages, but Slaven Bilic's side were guilty of some lacklustre football in the final third, which allowed the Saints to enter the break with a one-goal lead.
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It was West Ham that started the second period the brighter and Valencia had the first half-chance after the break. Mark Noble's through-pass reached the striker, but his low effort was saved by Forster.
Southampton were then reduced to 10 men in the 54th minute when Wanyama recklessly dived into Payet. There was not a great deal of contact between the two players, but Clattenburg deemed it to be serious foul play and took his time before sending the midfielder from the field.
Long had a golden chance to send the home side 2-0 ahead just past the hour after a defensive mistake from James Collins, but the Republic of Ireland international fired just high of the crossbar.
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West Ham were the team pressing forward as the second period continued to gather pace, and Bilic threw on both Andy Carroll and new signing Emmanuel Emenike in a bid to make the difference in the final third of the field.
Indeed, Emenike had a golden chance from a Valencia cross in the 75th minute, but the striker's header was just wide of Forster's post, before Carroll inadvertently blocked a strike from Valencia.
Charlie Austin chould have made sure of the points for the home team in the 88th minute after smart work from Oriol Romeu, but the Englishman fired wide of the post.
Cedric then almost scored a spectacular own goal late on, but Southampton managed to hold off the aerial bombardment in stoppage time to continue their excellent run of form.
Matt Law
