Southampton 1-0 Swansea City

Southampton striker Charlie Austin scores against Swansea for his third goal in two games

Southampton manager Claude Puel celebrated his first Premier League win at the fifth attempt as his side beat Swansea at St Mary's.

The dominant home side had endured a frustrating time as Nathan Redmond missed from 12 yards before a Charlie Austin strike hit the crossbar.

But just past the hour substitute Austin chested down the ball and sent in a rising shot to put Saints ahead.

Gylfi Sigurdsson had a late Swansea chance but saw his low shot saved.

Relive Southampton's win over Swansea

Austin to the rescue for Southampton

Southampton, who sold forwards Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane in the summer, started with Shane Long and Redmond in attack but they struggled as the home side failed to turn their superiority into goals.

Long did go close when a low curling shot was saved and was unhappy when Redmond sent an effort high instead of squaring to him.

Redmond has been switched from a winger role at former clubs Birmingham and Norwich to striker's duties since his summer switch to St Mary's and showed the lack of a finishing touch.

He wasted a glorious chance when he gathered a Dusan Tadic ball and cut inside a defender only to shoot horribly high from 12 yards.

Puel brought on Austin for Long, who had been booked for diving, and the the move paid off as he added to his two goals in the midweek Europa League win over Sparta Prague.

He had gone close when a shot from a Redmond cross hit the bar and bounced to safety off keeper Lukasz Fabianski's head, but he made amends with a clinical finish after a Tadic cross reached him at the far post.

"I should have had three," said Austin. "I'm frustrated, of course, [to be on the bench] as I scored twice in midweek but if the manager wants to rotate then he is the boss. We have a strong squad."

Charlie Austin came on after 54 minutes but his touchmap (left) shows he had nearly as many touches as Swansea striker Fernando Llorente, who played the whole game

Swansea form a worry for Guidolin

Swansea were clearly hoping to frustrate their hosts and catch them on the counter-attack or with a set-piece but Francesco Guidolin's side lacked the quality to do either.

Such was their lack of threat, Southampton comfortably kept their first clean sheet in 17 games, their last one having also come against Swansea in February.

Visiting forward Fernando Llorente was provided with little service and when he did get a touch to a Modou Barrow cross Jose Fonte was on hand to block his effort.

The next noteworthy chance for the visitors fell to Sigurdsson after 86 minutes - and he would have snatched an undeserved draw had Forster not smartly saved before Oriol Romeu cleared the loose ball to prevent Jefferson Montero turning it in.

Swansea are now winless in the league since their opening day victory over Burnley and their next three league games are against Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Man of the match - Dusan Tadic

Tadic set up Redmond for a glaring miss and provided the cross from which Austin scored the winner

What they said:

Southampton manager Claude Puel: "It was a difficult game. I say congratulations to my players - they kept a good spirit and a good attitude. We found the solution to score.

"It is important for the future. We have to play every few days, many games, and it is hard physically. It is important for the squad to play games and improve and make progress."

Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin: "Southampton deserved to win. For us it was not a good performance. We have to change our attitude - we have to play well and be more aggressive, and this is reason why Southampton won today.

"Now is not a good moment. To know why, I have to speak with players, my assistants - it is our job."

The stats you need to know

• Charlie Austin's goal was his first in the Premier League since he scored on his Southampton debut against Manchester United in January.

• Claude Puel earned his first Premier League win, becoming the seventh Frenchman to achieve this feat (Alain Perrin, Arsene Wenger, Gerard Houllier, Jacques Santini, Jean Tigana and Remi Garde the others).

• Swansea have not scored a first-half goal this season, firing five blanks so far.

What next?

Swansea face two home games against in-form Manchester City, with an EFL Cup game on Wednesday, 21 September before a league match three days later. Southampton are at home to Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup on Wednesday before a league trip to West Ham on Sunday, 25 September.