Southampton 1 Sunderland 0: Sofiane Boufal screamer fires Saints into EFL Cup quarter-final

SOFIANE BOUFAL showed why Southampton forked out a club record fee for his signature as he piled on the misery for David Moyes.

Rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, Sunderland's EFL Cup challenge ended with a wimper in a drab contest at St Mary's.

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With neither team showing any real sign of making a breakthrough, Moroccan magician Boufal beat his marker on 66 minutes to place a beautiful curling shot into the top corner from the edge of the box.

Sunderland's best chance came when Jermain Defoe was put through on goal but saw his shot saved by Alex McCarthy.

However it wasn't a perfect night for Southampton as crock Jay Rodriguez was substituted after just 26 minutes with a head injury.

FACTS, STATS, GOALS AND LOLS

• No wonder Saints gave Oriol Romeu a rest against Sunderland after the Spaniard made eight tackles for his team against Manchester City on Sunday-a Premier League high for the south coast club this campaign.
• Claude Puel certainly has his Saints in a spin these days with his rotation policy after making NINE changes for Sunderland following six for Manchester City and six for Inter Milan before that.
• Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy has blamed David Moyes for Sunderland's goal woes by telling the under-fire manager: "Get yourself a striker at least."
• Black Cats legend Micky Gray says the team's performances 'stink' at present but insists the club should stick with former Everton boss Moyes even if they are relegated from the Premier League.
• Now Southampton fans know what their record £21million signing Sofiane Boufal is all about after the Moroccan capped his first start against the Black Cats with a wonder strike.
• Lazy Saint Victor Anichebe will want to write his own Tweets from now on after his post West Ham offering hinted that a third party was writing his notes when his message stated on Sunday: "Can you Tweet something like..." before it was taken down.
• Jay Rodriguez injury nightmare continued when his meeting against the Black Cats lasted just 26 minutes. The poor boy has been restricted to just 84 Premier League appearances since his move from Burnley 52 months ago.
• Good thing Channel 5's cameras were facing the main stand for this fourth round tie because their stand was completely empty!
• Some 1500 hearty Sunderland fans made the 650-mile round trip to the south coast to watch a team that had only beaten Shrewsbury and QPR before last night's clash at St.Mary's.
• Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier must have wished he was still banned by his beloved club for the first hour before Boufal's fabulous strike.

BIG PICTURE

SOCIAL SAYS

WHAT THEY SAID

Southampton manager Claude Puel: “It was a very hard game. I chose at the start to change the team to leave some players in the dressing room.

“I wanted to give the chance in this game to players like Boufal and all of the young players.

“The young players had a good spirit. Sometimes it was difficult for them, but they gave it everything and we got the victory.

“It was difficult because they didn’t have experience and maturity, but with energy and quality, like the goal of Boufal, it was okay."

Sunderland manager David Moyes: "The players played really well tonight and deserved to come away with much more.

"We probably had a bit more control than we've had in other games.

"We made some poor passes when it was easier to make good passes, but generally we made opportunities tonight.

"We lost to a really good goal by Southampton, it happens sometimes.