Southampton 4-0 Sheffield Wednesday: Saints boost promotion push with comfortable win
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Che Adams scores his eighth goal of the season for Southampton
Adam Armstrong scored and contributed three assists as Southampton strengthened their promotion charge by beating Sheffield Wednesday and equalling a club-record run of 19 games unbeaten.
Top scorer Armstrong set up Che Adams to fire Saints into a first-half lead before making it 2-0 with his 14th goal of the season.
He then supplied the cross for Ryan Fraser to add their third before setting up substitute Sekou Mara to seal a resounding victory for the home side.
The result meant Saints overtook Ipswich to go second in the table, only for Town to move above them again by virtue of their 2-1 win over Sunderland in a later kick-off.
Southampton's players wore black armbands in tribute to former defender Mel Blyth, a member of their 1976 FA Cup-winning side, whose passing was announced on Saturday morning.
A defensive lapse almost allowed the visitors to go ahead inside the opening minute, with Josh Windass closing down goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu before the ball spun into the path of Bailey Cadamarteri, who was unable to capitalise.
Russell Martin's side gradually seized control, however, and Wednesday needed Michael Ihiekwe's goal-line clearance to prevent Fraser from opening the scoring with a volley that bounced down and beat Cameron Dawson.
The breakthrough finally came when Adam Armstrong pounced on an error by Owls defender Bambo Diaby and crossed for Adams, who turned his marker before crashing home his third goal in four games.
But for Dawson's low stop to deny Kyle Walker-Peters soon afterwards, Wednesday might have gone in two down at the break and boss Danny Rohl responded with a double change, introducing Will Vaulks and Ashley Fletcher for the second half.
Fletcher almost brought the visitors level soon after the restart as he forced a diving save from Bazunu, who also foiled Windass before Saints doubled their advantage, arguably against the run of play.
Diaby was again at fault, giving away possession to Stuart Armstrong, who picked out his namesake and his finish rocketed into the net via the underside of the bar.
There was no way back for Wednesday and Adam Armstrong had another effort cleared off the line by Di'Shon Bernard before teeing up Fraser to score at the back post.
Fraser was involved again in Saints' fourth goal, releasing Armstrong with a clever reverse ball and his pass was tapped in by Mara at close range to round off the win.
After a recent upturn in form, it was Wednesday's joint heaviest defeat of the campaign and kept them in 22nd place.
Southampton manager Russell Martin told BBC Radio Solent:
"The lads were incredible and I'm proud of them. Some amazing moments, some brilliant goals, some really top performances and another clean sheet.
"Wee Man (Ryan Fraser) was fantastic, Che (Adams) is in such a good place and Adam (Armstrong) did what he's done all season.
"He's been immense and he's playing right wing as well. He wants to play number nine so he's still a bit annoyed at me about that but it's incredible what he does for the team - he's so reliable, so consistent and so selfless.
"Those three were a real threat because they run but also we pressed so aggressively, we can only do what we do with the ball because of the way the boys hunt it and those three set a lot of that off."
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"Southampton deserved the win, they have a lot of quality - it's a different level compared to us. They showed from the goals they scored they have enough to get back into the Premier League, for us it's a different fight and I can accept this.
"In the second half we had some good moments but always, if you start to try something, you're more open and you see that quality that can hurt you.
"In this kind of game you have to do everything right to take something. You need a little bit of luck in some moments - we had the opportunity with the shot for Fletch and it could be 1-1.
"But all in all they were too strong today. We can learn from this game and now we go forward."