Having tasted defeat to Cardiff City in his first proper game in charge, new Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl saw his side pick up his first victory earlier this afternoon as we faced off against Arsenal.
Welcoming Unai Emery’s side to St Mary’s Stadium for the game, whatever the Austrian has been working on in training came to the fore and although the visitors dominated possession and had more efforts at goal overall, we had almost double the chances on target.
And we scored from three of them.
YEEEESSSS!!!!
Describe this feeling, #SaintsFC fans! 🔥👇 pic.twitter.com/gYGxBxGF3G
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) December 16, 2018
Danny Ings opened the scoring in the 20th minute but Arsenal did level the scores eight minutes later. We went into the break with a 2-1 advantage though as Ings completed his brace, and Arsenal again came back to tie the scores up.
With five minutes remaining in the game, Charlie Austin became our hero as he found the back of the net to secure all three points and our second win of the entire campaign with a 3-2 scoreline.
Speaking to the BBC following the match, a delighted Hasenhuttl explained.
“It’s amazing what the team can do in a week. It was very intensive, we had time to work on the basics and built the fundamentals for our game. I’m very proud of how focused and uncompromising they were, and when they had the chances, how merciless they were. It was a fantastic atmosphere and a special feeling here to win the match.”
"The crowd was amazing and the moment when we made it 3-2 was unbelievable. I thought the roof was going to go away from the stadium!"
Hard work rewarded. 👊 #saintsfc pic.twitter.com/MUncpsPWsI
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) December 16, 2018