SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) – Promoted Southampton finally got to celebrate a first Premier League win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Everton thanks to a late Adam Armstrong goal at St Mary’s on Saturday.
Southampton sit second-bottom with four points from 10 matches, while Everton are 16th on nine points.
The visitors caused some problems in the opening minutes when they piled forward, but Southampton grew into the contest and had the lion’s share of possession.
The best chance of the first half came when Cameron Archer raced past the Everton defence, but his shot flew just wide.
Moments after the interval, Saints goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale made some fine saves to keep out shots from Orel Mangala and Michael Keane before Armstrong struck in the 85th minute.
The striker timed his run to perfection to slot home inside the box and fire past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after a counter-attack. That winner came just after Everton’s Beto headed against the crossbar at the other end.
Everton thought they had equalised when Beto controlled a long ball and slotted it past Ramsdale but his effort was ruled out for offside as Southampton withstood some late pressure to seal their first win of the league season.
The result ended Everton’s five-match unbeaten run but will ease some of the pressure on Saints boss Russell Martin, who guided the south-coast side to promotion last season.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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