Southampton, who became just the fourth side in PL history to lose eight successive home games.Rock-bottom and cast adrift at kick-off, Southampton were on the back foot from the off at St Mary's Stadium, surviving an early scare when Georginio Rutter’s determined run ended in a close-range shot at Aaron Ramsdale. A landmark 250th appearance in English football was soon cut short for Jan Bednarek, adding to Southampton’s woes, shortly before Carlos Baleba’s deflected free-kick bounced over the bar. The chances kept coming for Brighton, with Kaoru Mitoma prodding a first-time effort agonisingly wide, and Yankuba Minteh losing his footing when through on goal.
The Saints’ resolve was eventually broken in the 23rd minute through João Pedro, who capitalised on a loose ball by keeping his composure and delicately dinking the ball over Ramsdale for his 50th goal in England. Aside from Wellington’s cross-shot that required tipping over from Bart Verbruggen, the hosts rarely threatened before the break, trailing by a one-goal margin at HT.
A positive start to the second period saw Mateus Fernandes slip in Cameron Archer, who slotted home when one-on-one, but his celebrations were cut short due to a tight offside. With the hour mark approaching, hopes of a turnaround took a sizeable blow as Southampton doubled their advantage thanks to neat interplay from Rutter and Minteh, leading to the former tucking home on the slide. Heavily involved, Minteh passed up a chance to seal the points when he sat both Kyle Walker-Peters and Ramsdale on the floor with a quick turn, only to take slightly too long to fire his shot into an empty net.
Thankfully for the visitors, that opportunity wouldn’t come back to bite them, as much like Rutter, Mitoma also darted through the middle of the pitch before lifting the ball over a helpless Ramsdale. With time ticking away, 19-year-old Jack Hinshelwood got his name on the scoresheet, wrapping up the scoring after adjusting well to find the net following a corner delivery.
Baleba struck the post via Ramsdale in stoppage time, but that proved academical as back-to-back victories lift Fabian Hürzeler’s side to eighth in the league, just three points off fifth-placed Bournemouth, with a return to Europe a genuine possibility. As for Southampton, a seventh consecutive H2H without a win (D3, L4) leaves them staring relegation in the face, now 13 points from safety with only nine accumulated so far