SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) -Promoted Southampton’s difficult start to life back in the Premier League continued when they slipped to a 1-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Forest had by the far the best of the first-half action, with Chris Wood passing up two glorious chances to break the deadlock, an early close-range header the most gilt-edged one.
The hosts moved the ball better after the break but still lacked a cutting edge, with Forest finally making a chance count when Morgan Gibbs-White tucked the ball home at the second attempt in the 70th minute.
That sucked the life out of the home side, who never really threatened an equaliser, with Forest seeing out their first win of the season in relative comfort.
“We stuck to what the manager wanted us to do,” Gibbs-White told Premier League Productions. “I felt like we had control but you knew there was going to be a reaction from Southampton. It’s about taking that chance and luckily I did.
“I feel like I need to add more goals and that’s what I want to do. We’ve got the three points and we go home happy.”
Zero points for Southampton is worrying, considering they played the majority of their opener at Newcastle United against 10 men, before welcoming a Forest side many have tipped to struggle this season to the south coast.
Southampton remain winless in their last 15 Premier League game since a 1-0 victory over Leicester City in March, 2023.
“We don’t possess the quality at the top end of the pitch that they do and I’m really annoyed to concede the goal from the set play after the amount of work we do on them,” manager Russell Martin told the BBC.
“We’re on top and they have some breakaway chances, We have two balls across the face of the goal and the guys are watching. We are going to keep learning but I’ve seen enough moments to feel enthused and with a little more belief and work, we’ll be fine.”
(Reporting by Peter Hall; editing by Clare Fallon and Ed Osmond)
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