Summary

  • Dominant Southampton beat Norwich - Canaries stay bottom

  • Adams gives Southampton lead over Norwich

  • Romeu adds late second with fine strike

  1. Postpublished at 22:24 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

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  2. '6/10s throughout the pitch'published at 22:21 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Norwich City

    Norwich manager Dean Smith speaking to Sky Sports: "It was a difficult night. In the first half we gave the ball away too cheaply. We didn’t play with the quality we can go. When you get 6/10s throughout the pitch you won’t win a game in the Premier League.

    "We had to pin their centre-backs and full-backs because they had too much ball in our half. We went two up front to change it round. The subs made an impact. Southampton are a high pressing team and their numbers drop off. We knew we’d get some joy in the second half.

    “It's been a disappointment tonight because so many players played below the standards they have played. It’s frustrating. Southampton are a very good team that recently held Man City and only lost once at home this season. They played well tonight.

    "At this moment we are just concentrating on our next game. We don’t know where the league table will be in five or six games."

  3. 'There is a new feeling here'published at 22:20 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Southampton

    Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl speaking to Match of the Day: "These are the toughest wins. We had massive chances and we had a lot of shots on target.

    "Oriol tries this sometimes from outside the box and it was an important goal for us.

    "Kyle Walker-Peters enjoys it on the left side. It shows his intelligence, the qualities he has and he's super hard to defend against with his low centre of gravity. This is the quality we have now."

    On targets this season: "There's still a long way to go but everyone feels it now. When you see the reaction of the fans there was not one moment when people weren't believing we could win. That is a new feeling here I think."

  4. 'The better team won'published at 22:19 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Norwich City

    Norwich manager Dean Smith speaking to Match of the Day: "The better team won on the night, we can't argue with that. If we only have six or seven-out-of-10 performances we won't win games in the Premier League.

    "We played in front of their press too often. We gave the ball away too often and that was our downfall. If you keep giving the ball away you're not going to get many touches. We got better and we knew we'd get chances towards the end but a great strike has taken it away from us at the end.

    "I don't know how many points we're going to need. All I'm worried about is the next game and however the league looks at the end we just want to be out of the bottom three."

  5. Postpublished at 22:17 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Norwich City

    Norwich defender Grant Hanley to Sky Sports: “We felt it was a game we could target and get something from. It wasn’t to be. We’ll dust ourselves down and go again.

    “Sometimes it’s a numbers game. When teams have that much possession and dangerous attacks it’s only a matter of time before they scored.

    “We’ll learn from it. We’ve got to try to control games more. We’ll keep going.”

  6. 'These are the toughest wins to get'published at 22:16 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Southampton

    Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, speaking to Sky Sports: "We had a lot of chances against an organised opponent. It was a tight game.

    "We were able to adapt our game and have different behaviours. That slowed their game down and then we scored our goals.

    "We found Angus Gunn was like a magnet today. We had a lot of shots but he was always there and we had to wait for an unbelivable strike from Oriol.

    "It's an amazing goal. We had a few shots from this position but not all of them were on target. Oriol is super strong, he's so calm on the ball and he's so important for our game. When he starts scoring goals we can't ask for more.

    "These are the toughest wins to get, against teams where everyone expects you to win. The last two teams coming here were in a relegation battle and we won 2-0 with a clean sheet. People think it's easy but it's not."

  7. Postpublished at 22:13 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Only once before have Norwich picked up fewer points after 26 games of a top-flight season than the 17 they have accrued in this campaign.

    That was in 1973-74 (16 points adjusted to three points for a win) and they were relegated.

  8. Postpublished at 22:11 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Only Liverpool (six) and Wolves (five) have won more Premier League games in 2022 than Southampton (four).

  9. 'Oriol will look after you'published at 22:09 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Southampton

    Southamptong captain James Ward-Prowse to Sky Sports: "With the ball we have a lot more variations now. It’s great to play with Oriol [Romeu]. He wears his heart on his sleeve, you know he’ll look after you and put in a tackle.

    "Going back to the summer we recruited really well. The squad has a lot of depth. There’s a good blend of youth and experience. It’s a great team to be part of."

  10. 'I wasn't expecting to hit it that well'published at 22:07 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Southampton

    Southamptong goalscorer Oriol Romeu to Sky Sports: "Norwich didn’t have any player on the edge of the box so I knew we’d have chances. I expected one of them to come to my feet. I wasn’t expecting to hit it that well. Clean. We needed that second goal. We were struggling a bit but that gave us the confidence.

    "We found a very good balance. We’re in a very good moment. Hopefully we can keep going.

    "Today was a tricky one because everyone expected us to win. It wasn’t easy. Norwich played well. We want to finish in a good place."

  11. Postpublished at 22:01 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Since Dean Smith’s first game as Norwich boss on 20 November, only Watford (10) have lost more Premier League games than the Canaries (nine, level with Brentford and Everton).

  12. 'Not many teams can play through our pressing'published at 21:59 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Southampton

    Southampton striker Che Adams: "Every game is difficult but we performed well and kept our standards high.

    "Oriel tries that kind of thing once a game and I'm buzzing for him that he's finally got his goal.

    "For my goal Tino crossed it in and I got a touch on it and managed to scoop it in. If I'd gone low and hard the defender probably would have stopped it."

    Why are things going so well at the moment? "We've always worked hard, our pressing is one of the best in the league and when we get that right not many teams can play through it. We all had an agreement before the season to improve on last season. We have to take it game by game and see where we end up."

  13. Postpublished at 21:56 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Southampton's tally of 35 points is their highest after 26 games of a Premier League season since 2015-16 under Ronald Koeman (40).

    They finished sixth that season, their best Premier League campign.

  14. Postpublished at 21:54 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Southampton are unbeaten in 10 Premier League home fixtures (W5 D5).

    They have not had a longer Premier League home unbeaten streak since a run of 12 from October 2004 to March 2005 (W3 D9).

    Sadly for them they finished bottom and were relegated that season.

  15. Postpublished at 21:52 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Oriol Romeu has scored exactly one Premier League goal in six of his seven seasons at Southampton.

    The only exception was 2019-20 when he didn't score any.

  16. FULL-TIMEpublished at 21:50 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    It's all over.

    Southampton get a deserved win with a great performance.

    Norwich remain bottom of the Premier League.

  17. Postpublished at 90+3 mins

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Moussa Djenepo's first touch is to miscontrol a pass out of play.

  18. SUBSTITUTIONpublished at 90+2 mins

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Stuart Armstrong gets a good round of applause as he's replaced by Moussa Djenepo.

  19. INJURY TIMEpublished at 90 mins

    Southampton 2-0 Norwich

    Three minutes added on. No jeopardy now.