Highlights
Points shared
Bournemouth 0 Southampton 0 watch highlights: Callum Wilson and Nathan Ake spurn golden chances for Cherries to nick it
Eddie Howe's men and Mark Hughes' side share the spoils at the Vitality
SOUTHAMPTON dented Bournemouth’s progress to ease the pressure on Mark Hughes.
Sparky came into this game having made the WORST start to his tenure of any Saints boss in the Premier League era.
4
His haul of just 13 points on 16 games was even poorer than his maligned predecessor Mauricio Pellegrino.
Hughes had insisted he was not feeling the heat having won lost five games already this season.
And while his team could not add to their one league victory here, they were organised enough to prevail where so many other sides have failed and stop Eddie Howe’s flyers.
The nearest the hosts came to a goal came when Josh King, who started despite not training all week, flicked a header wide from Jefferson Lerma’s cross shortly after half-time.
4
4
While Adam Smith probably did not realise how important his mis-hit inside the first two minutes would be in a game of pitifully few chances.
Neither Charlie Austin nor Danny Ings threatened their old side.
Instead it was Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg who came the closest to netting for the visitors with two speculative efforts from distance.
While sub Stuart Armstrong summed up how things have been going in front of goal for Southampton when failing to convert from Shane Long’s knock-down late on.
4
Latest football news
Saints’ lack of cutting edge is a worry but Hughes will have been delighted with the way they nullified their hosts, particularly jet-heeled wingers David Brooks and Ryan Fraser.
That pair have tormented many Prem sides this term as Howe’s boys climbed to sixth, where they remain.
But Ryan Bertrand, Cedric and Co had the measure of them here which gives Hughes a platform from which to build ahead of next week’s crunch clash with Newcastle.
Topics