Southampton 4 Sunderland 2: Highlights as Joe Rothwell double gives hosts win after Jobe Bellingham goal
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Sunderland were beaten 4-2 by Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium in the Championship.
The Black Cats fell two goals down in the first half after Stuart Armstrong’s opener and an Adam Armstrong penalty. Sunderland managed to draw level after the interval, though, after goals from Romaine Mundle and Jobe Bellingham during a nine-minute spell.
Yet Southampton took the points after substitute Joe Rothwell scored twice from close range. Here's how the game played out:
Southampton vs Sunderland
LIVE: Southampton 4 (S. Armstrong, 10) (A. Armstrong, 38, pen) (Rothwell, 78, 81) Sunderland 2 (Mundle, 62) (Bellingham, 72)
Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, Seelt, Ballard (Styles, 71), Hjelde, Neil, Rigg (Aouchiche, 56), Bellingham, Ba, Mundle (Ekwah, 88), Burstow (Rusyn, 56) Subs: Bishop, Pembele, Ekwah, Aouchiche, Hemir, Lavery, Jones, Styles, Rusyn
Southampton XI: Bazunu, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens (Bree, 73), Manning, Downes, Smallbone (Aribo, 57), S Armstrong (Rothwell, 73), Brooks (Sulemana, 57), A Armstrong, Adams (Mara, 84)
Subs: Lumley, Bree, Charles, Rothwell, Aribo, Dibling, Edozie, Sulemana, Mara
It's Matchday!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland's Championship fixture against Southampton at St Mary's Stadium.
The Black Cats are looking to end a five-match losing run, yet it won't be easy against a side sitting fourth in the table.
We'll have all the build-up ahead of the match, as well as in-game analysis, post-match reaction and more.
Stick around and refresh the page for live updates throughout the day.
Southampton confirmed on Friday that today's match will go ahead after a major fire caused Wednesday's fixture against Preston to be postponed.
The Southampton statement read: "We’re really looking forward to welcoming you back to St Mary’s on Saturday for our game against Sunderland. We’ve been working really hard with the local authorities and emergency services to make sure the game can go ahead, however, you will notice some small changes around the stadium as a result of the fire in the nearby industrial units.
"Due to its close proximity to the site of the fire, the Family Zone outside the stadium will be closed, but you’re welcome to join in the fun of the activations in the Kingsland area.
"We’ve also been advised that normal matchday road closures will be in place, so please ensure you leave enough time to arrive and enter the stadium safely. We want to thank everyone who’s worked hard to get the stadium ready for tomorrow, and to all our fans who’ve offered their support. See you tomorrow!"
Team news
In terms of team news, Sunderland will be without Luke O'Nien (below), who is set to serve a two-match suspension after receiving his 10th yellow card of the season against Leicester.
Corry Evans and Bradley Dack have returned to training in recent weeks but are set to play for the under-21s side before making their first-team comeback. Aji Alese has also been part-training as he recovers from the issue he picked up in January.
Patrick Roberts (hamstring) and Jack Clarke (ankle) remain sidelined, along with Dennis Cirkin (hamstring), Niall Huggins (knee) and Elliot Embleton (ankle).
Dodds on Southampton
Here's what Dodds had to say about today's opponents:
“I think Russell Martin has got a real clear identity in terms of the way he wants to play, and he's had that at all the clubs he has been at, and I've got huge respect for him.
“He won't change or waiver from his beliefs, so we know what we're going to come up against.
“I think the difficulty you have in the game is there's so much individual quality, so you set your teams up to play however you feel is best and nullify that.”
How Southampton are shaping up
Southampton got back to winning ways with a 4-3 win over Birmingham last weekend but have still lost three of their last five matches.
Russell Martin's side remain fourth in the table with 70 points and still have an outside chance of finishing in the automatic promotion places.
The Saints will be without right-back Kyle Walker-Peters due to a leg injury, while Newcastle loanee Ryan Fraser has been sidelined with a knee issue.
Martin on Sunderland
Here's what Martin had to say about Sunderland, who beat his side 5-0 earlier in the season.
“They played really well on Tuesday and were unfortunate to not get at least a point against Leicester.
“They are a good team, a young team. The coach has been there for quite a while now, they’ve had a lot of managers but he’s been there for a long time and has done well. He has real clarity of what they’re doing, he knows the players really well and they have some really talented individuals.
“One of Sunderland’s big qualities is their energy, their willingness to run and that is why they tend to be in every game they are in, it’s always very close. It will be a difficult game, I have a lot of respect for what they do. They did really well against us earlier in the season but we have to try and turn the game into a game that we want it to be, especially at home. I’m really looking forward to the game.”
Predicted line-ups
Here are our predicted line-ups for today's match:
Predicted Southampton XI: Bazunu, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Bednarek, Manning, Aribo, Downes, S.Armstrong, Brooks, Armstrong, Adams
Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson, Hume, Seelt, Ballard, Hjelde, Neil, Ekwah, Ba, Rigg, Rusyn, Bellingham
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