Manolo Gabbiadini leads Southampton to huge victory over Swansea City

Southampton have taken a crucial step towards Premier League safety by beating relegation rivals Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

In a tense affair, Manolo Gabbiadini struck at a corner 17 minutes from time to give Southampton the victory.

The result means that West Bromwich Albion’s stay in the Premier League is over. They needed a draw to go into the final day with a chance of staying up.

Swansea were in the ascendancy at the start of the match, with Jordan Ayew missing the target from a freekick and Alex McCarthy stopping an Andy King shot.

Embed from Getty Images

Jordan Ayew then headed over before Charlie Austin shot wide at the other end.

The best chance of the first half fell to Austin on the half-hour mark. He picked up a through ball and powered the ball towards the far corner but Lukasz Fabianski made the save.

Swansea then went close but Sam Clucas’ header went narrowly wide of the far post.

Embed from Getty Images

It was Austin again causing problems just before the break. His volley was straight at Fabianski though.

Jordan Ayew could have put the Swans in ahead in the 48th minute when he cut inside but his 25-yarder was tipped over by McCarthy.

Austin, again, failed to put Southampton ahead on the hour, as he headed straight at Fabianski when unmarked in the box.

Embed from Getty Images

Southampton did take the lead with 17 minute to spare. A corner could only be cleared to Austin, who thumped the ball towards goal. Fabianski did brilliantly to block the shot but Gabbiadini was there to finish from four yards.

A huge chance fell for Tammy Abraham with just six minutes to spare but his header was superbly tipped over by McCarthy. The assistant referee’s flag was already up for offside anyway, though.

Ki Sung-yueng volleyed over and Abraham missed a header before full time as Southampton held on for the three points.

The result puts Southampton 17th in the Premier League table two points clear of Swansea, level on points with Huddersfield Town.

Cover Photo: Liberty Stadium by Chris Jobling used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.