Southampton 4-1 Crystal Palace (original) (raw)
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Southampton celebrate their second goal with veteran goalkeeper Kelvin Davies
Southampton qualified for the Europa League and ended the season with their highest Premier League points total with victory over Crystal Palace.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring late in the first half following a mistake by Palace keeper Julian Speroni.
Saints doubled the lead through substitute Graziano Pelle, but Jason Puncheon pulled one back for Palace.
Ryan Bertrand scored a penalty, before Steve Davis sealed the win with an emphatic late goal.
Media caption,
Koeman delight at 'incredible' season
West Ham's defeat at Stoke meant they could not overhaul Southampton, who would remain in fifth place in the table if Manchester United lose to Bournemouth when their match, called off because of a security alert, is eventually played.
FA Cup finalists Palace would finish in 16th place if Bournemouth beat United.
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That end-of-season feeling
The match had an end-of-term feel, with neither side having many chances to score until an error by Speroni, one of five changes to the Palace line-up from their last outing.
Image source, OPTA
Image caption,
Southampton, on the right, attempted 18 shots while Palace had 16, eight of which were blocked as shown by the circles with a yellow border.
The goalkeeper, making only his second appearance of the season in place of Wayne Hennessey, could only push a cross as far as Mane.
The Saints forward calmly hooked the ball home to hand the impetus to the home side, who mostly controlled the rest of the match.
Only after Puncheon's fiercely hit shot flew into the top corner of the net did Palace look like they might come away from the south coast with something.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Jason Puncheon scored against the club where he played for four years
Contrasting fortunes
Saints have ended their season in a fine vein of form, with only one defeat in their final 10 outings.
Ronald Koeman's side have also netted 14 times in their past four games, including consecutive four-goal scorelines at home.
Palace, by contrast, slipped to a third straight defeat on the road, and will likely prefer to forget about a lacklustre second half of the season when preparing for the FA Cup final against Manchester United.
Sixth in the table in December, the Eagles fell away badly to finish just five points above relegated Newcastle.
Saints stock continues to rise
Even with their final place still not confirmed, Southampton have improved on last season's showing.
Their total of 63 points is three more than last season and similarly they improved their goal tally, scoring 59 times compared to 54 in 2014-15.
It concludes another good campaign for Saints manager Ronald Koeman, who had been linked with the vacant position at Everton before the match.
Man of the match - Sadio Mane
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Mane was a constant menace and could have had more than the one goal against Palace, to finish with 11 for the season
What the managers said
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman: "A difficult game, Palace played well but we were very clinical. It was not our best game, but the belief and the fight till the last seconds brought the three points.
"Last season was a very special one, but I don't know what I have to say about this season. 63 points and fifth in the table, it is incredible.
"I am very happy in the club, and if we have a talk next week and both the board and I have the same ambition, and everybody has that ambition, we know it is difficult to keep improving on the last few years is difficult. Everybody likes to make the next step, including myself."
Media caption,
Pardew bemoans 'shocking decisions'
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew: "I thought our performance was good, actually. I think there two shocking decisions gifted them two goals, I don't think its a penalty, contact outside, and I think it is a blatant push for the second goal.
"We obviously protected a few, but they (Southampton) are in good form and deserved to win.
"The first priority was to get a result, we lost but the second was to come through unscathed. We have no injuries, and no-one sent off so we should be OK."
The stats you may have missed
- Sadio Mane has scored eight goals in his past eight Premier League games.
- Saints have scored a joint league-high 15 headed goals this season (level with West Ham) - having scored the fewest in the top flight last season with three.
- Palace's last victory away from home in the Premier League was at Stoke in December, meaning they ended the season with a run of 11 without a win on the road.
- Crystal Palace have won none of their five final-day Premier League games away from home (D2 L3).
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