Soccer Football - Premier League - Southampton v Brighton & Hove Albion - St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, Britain - December 26, 2022 Brighton & Hove Albion's Solly March celebrates scoring their third goal with Lewis Dunk and Pascal Gross REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) -Brighton & Hove Albion provisionally climbed to sixth in the Premier League standings after they won 3-1 away to Southampton in their Boxing Day clash, the first round of matches after the World Cup.
A header from Adam Lallana and a stunning long-range strike by Solly March along with Romain Perraud's own goal helped Brighton take their points tally to 24 - two more than seventh-placed Liverpool who play at Aston Villa later.
"I thought we were outstanding. Some of the play was enjoyable, we gave them problems and it's nice to come back home and win," attacking midfielder Lallana told Amazon Prime.
Brighton went ahead in the 15th minute when Lallana scored against his former club after he connected with March's cross and sent his header into the net as goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu scuffed an easy save.
Southampton skipper James Ward-Prowse came within a whisker of equalising when his curling free-kick in the 25th minute flew slightly wide of the post.
But Brighton went 2-0 ahead in the 35th minute after defender Perraud turned the ball into his own net while trying to clear a cross from Pervis Estupinan.
In his first Premier League home game, Nathan Jones walked off at halftime to a chorus of boos as Southampton looked poor in all departments while their opponents dominated possession and were dangerous in attack.
Although Southampton made a good start in the second half with the introduction of Stuart Armstrong, March made it 3-0 for Brighton in the 55th minute with a thumping shot into the top corner from 20 yards out after a brilliant solo move.
The visitors could have added a fourth when March, playing superbly on the right flank, clipped in a cross for Kaoru Mitoma but the Japan midfielder sent his header wide.
Southampton were awarded a penalty in the 73rd minute for Pascal Gross's foul on Samuel Edozie, and although Ward-Prowse's spot-kick was stopped by keeper Robert Sanchez, the Southampton skipper nodded home on the rebound.
The goal proved to be only a consolation for Southampton, however, as they failed to bounce back and suffered their fourth straight league defeat, slipping to the bottom of the table on 12 points after 16 games - two points adrift of the safety zone.
"We have to defend situations better, we gifted them two goals and confidence and then never had a chance of winning the game. We didn't deserve anything," Southampton manager Jones said.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru, Editing by Louise Heavens and Pritha Sarkar)
