Southampton have climbed into the top half of the Premier League table courtesy of a 1-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion at St Mary's this evening.
A stunning solo effort from Sofiane Boufal with just five minutes remaining proved to be the difference between the two sides as Southampton won at home for the first time since August to leapfrog their opponents.
The Saints were inches away from breaking the deadlock after 17 minutes when Ryan Bertrand went for goal from a free kick, but his effort struck the post with Baggies goalkeeper Ben Foster beaten.
It was the home side who continued to look the most likely to find a breakthrough, though, and Oriol Romeu was the next to threaten shortly afterwards when his effort went narrowly wide of the target.
The Baggies offered little attacking threat at the other end, and they once again almost fell behind shortly before the half-hour mark when Shane Long poked the ball past the post having been set up by Manolo Gabbiadini.
Maya Yoshida then rose highest in the area to meet a corner, but he planted his header straight at Foster as West Brom held on until half time.
Tony Pulis's side stemmed the flow of chances more after the interval, but there was still work for Foster to do when he denied Dusan Tadic from the edge of the area with less than 20 minutes remaining.
The Baggies responded with their first clear chance of the match moments later when Fraser Forster was finally called into action, producing a fine save to deny Nacer Chadli.
It eventually took a moment of magic for the deadlock to be broken, with Boufal picking the ball up deep inside his own half and beating five defenders before calmly stroking his finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Charlie Austin could have made things more comfortable for Southampton in second-half stoppage time when he was only able to poke the ball against the post when he should have scored, but it did not prove to be a costly miss as Mauricio Pellegrino's side held on for only their second win in their last eight outings across all competitions.
The result lifts the Saints up to 10th in the Premier League table, whereas West Brom drop to 13th having now failed to win any of their last eight matches in all competitions.
No Data Analysis info
