Southampton vs Leeds ended in a deserved win for Saints, as they secured their first Premier League victory of the season.
FULL MATCH REPLAY
Ralph Hasenhuttl saw his side dominate Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds from start to finish, as Leeds struggled without Ayling, Phillips, Raphinha and Bamford.
Armando Broja scored the game-winner early in the second half, as relief was the key word around St Mary’s.
Below is everything you need on Southampton vs Leeds.
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Southampton vs Leeds final score, stats
Southampton 1-0 Leeds
Goals scored: (Broja 53')
Shots: Southampton 19, Leeds 3
Shots on target: Southampton 4, Leeds 0
Possession: Southampton 45, Leeds 55
3 things we learned from Southampton vs Leeds
1. Broja seems like the answer for Saints: His first started yielded his first Premier League goal and Broja was a handful. He flicked dangerous headers on from corners, held the ball up well and took his goal bravely. The Albanian international is only 20 years old and with Che Adams out injured and Adam Armstrong dropped, he took his chance to lead the line for Saints. The Chelsea loanee looks to have a really bright future.
2. Lackluster Leeds hit hard by absentees: Without Raphinha, Kalvin Phillips, Luke Ayling and Patrick Bamford, Leeds looked predictably disjointed. Bielsa will not be happy with this display, but he will be realistic because of how many players they were missing. Still, six points from their first eight games is not the start to the season Leeds wanted.
3. Relief for Hasenhuttl: There was pressure building on Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl but this will ease some of that. Southampton have played well this season and they haven’t got the points they deserved. This will go a long way to easing any pressure and Saints have four winnable games coming up next too. Things can turn around very quickly, and now that a young Saints side have their first win in 10 Premier League games, it will be intriguing to see if they can build off this.
Man of the Match: Mohammed Salisu - Superb display to keep Leeds at bay. One loose pass, but dominant aside from that.
The hosts started well as Nathan Redmond whipped in a corner which Armando Broja flicked just wide.
Leeds certainly missed their key men and struggled to get a foothold in the game, as Illan Meslier pushed Redmond’s low shot wide.
From that corner Broja flicked a header to the back post and somehow Mohamed Elyounoussi couldn’t convert at the back post.
Broja was then denied by Meslier, and Moussa Djenepo caused plenty of problems.
Leeds woke up, finally, as Jack Harrison cut inside and his shot was brilliantly blocked by Mohammed Salisu.
Armando Broja then scored his first Premier League goal to give Southampton the lead against Leeds.
After brilliant play by Djenepo and Redmond to set up Broja, the striker slammed home to send St Mary’s wild. Broja took a huge whack from Diego Llorente on the goal, but battled on.
Harrison caused a few problems as Leeds tried to get going, while Elyounoussi fired just wide as Saints looked a threat on the break.
Salisu then played the ball straight to Leeds, but James’ effort was past McCarthy, but also past the post.
Leeds never looked like equalizing, as Saints secured a huge three points.
Southampton team news, injuries, lineup
The main injury issue for Southampton is Che Adams, who will miss this game after a muscle injury he suffered while playing for Scotland in World Cup qualifying. Armando Broja starts up top to replace Adams. Captain James Ward-Prowse begins his three-match suspension after being sent off at Chelsea last time out, so Ibrahima Diallo replace him in central midfield.
Ready to resume our #PL season ⏯
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) October 16, 2021
How #SaintsFC will line-up against #LUFC this afternoon: pic.twitter.com/316FPRaqXi
Leeds team news, injuries, lineup
There are some huge injury problems for Leeds as Luke Ayling remains out, Patrick Bamford is still out with an ankle injury and Raphinha, Kalvin Phillips and Robin Koch are all out too.
📋 Three changes to the #LUFC Starting XI. Harrison, Roberts and Struijk in for Phillips, Raphinha and Firpo pic.twitter.com/JF1B9ipj7q
— Leeds United (@LUFC) October 16, 2021
Pre-match preamble
Southampton vs Leeds sees two teams who’ve had slow starts to the season collide at St Mary’s on Saturday (start time 10am ET on Peacock Premium) in what will be an intense clash full of high-pressing.
Both Ralph Hasenhuttl and Marcelo Bielsa demand high levels of high-pressing, and given their desperate need for points, this will be epic.
Southampton have perhaps been a little unlucky to not get a win on the board yet this season, as they’ve played Man City, Man United, Chelsea, Everton and West Ham so far in their opening seven games and have drawn four of them. Scoring goals has been a big problem for the Saints this season, and Adam Armstrong is now their big hope up top but he’s failed to score since his opening day strike. Saints’ next five games are much easier than their first seven (on paper), so Southampton need to start picking up wins. Fast.
Bielsa’s Leeds need to do the same, but they did secure a win against Watford before the international break to boost their points tally. They sit one place and two points ahead of Southampton heading into this clash but it is about injuries, once again, for the Yorkshire club. Patrick Bamford has missed the last few games, while Kalvin Phillips didn’t feature for England over the international break and Raphinha could miss this clash.
Odds and ends (full odds provided by our partner, PointsBet)
Southampton are surprisingly the favorites at +135, while Leeds are priced at +185 to win. The draw is +245.
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Prediction
Probably go for a draw in this one. Leeds and Saints both love to high press and that should lead to a very even game. Leeds have some big injury issues, so this is a good time for Southampton to play them. That said, Saints just haven’t been clinical enough. Southampton 1-1 Leeds.
