Southampton comfortably beat Brentford to move up to 11th in the Premier League – in front of the Saints’ new owner Dragan Solak.
Jan Bednarek gave the hosts the early lead when he glanced in a header from James Ward-Prowse’s left-wing corner.
Brentford equalised with their first shot on target thanks to Vitaly Janelt’s excellent sliced volley after Bryan Mbeumo’s cross.
But the Saints retook the lead as Ibrahima Diallo shot goalwards and it bounced off the post and off Bees’ goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez for an own goal.
Shortly after the restart, the hosts added a third when Armando Broja raced on to Oriel Romeu’s fine through ball and calmly finished past Fernandez.
Substitute Che Adams, back after a Covid-19 absence, scored within five minutes of coming on, reaching a long pass before the Brentford goalkeeper and poking in a fourth – the first time Southampton have scored four times in a Premier League match this season.
This was the first home game for Southampton since it was confirmed that the Sport Republic group had bought Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng’s 80% stake of the club earlier this month.
Serb media mogul Solak, who financially backed the takeover, was at St Mary’s and saw his new side record only their fifth league win of the season.
The Saints move above Brentford, who missed a chance to move into the top half and instead drop to 13th.
Poor Brentford easily beaten
For Brentford, this result continues a worrying run of form away from home which has seen them pick up only two points on the road from their past six league matches.
After falling behind to Bednarek’s header, they equalised on 23 minutes when Mbeumo, who had scored a hat-trick in their 4-1 win over Port Vale in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday, crossed and Janelt showed excellent skill to cut across the ball and volley home.
Janelt instantly had a chance to put the Bees ahead but saw his 25-yard powerful strike parried well by home goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
But after the Saints regained their advantage, the hosts pulled cleared and scored twice more to run out worthy winners and inflict the heaviest defeat of the season on the visitors.
Both Ivan Toney and Mbeumo had efforts saved late on by Forster, but Brentford boss Thomas Frank was unhappy with his side’s performance and will need an instant improvement as their next game is at Liverpool on Sunday.
“Every game you win or learn and we will learn a lot from that,” said Frank. “It will be so hard to watch it back but it’s a reminder that you have to play every game at 100% and if you don’t you get punished.
“We need to look at ourselves. We gave five chances away and they scored four of them. In the first half we need to be much better on the ball and in the second half we were too open.
“It hits so hard because we want to be good at defending and have done that all season but here we have not done it well enough.”
Player of the match
Ward-ProwseJames Ward-Prowse
Southampton
-
Squad number8Player nameWard-ProwseAverage rating
8.85
-
Squad number18Player nameBrojaAverage rating
8.68
-
Squad number10Player nameAdamsAverage rating
8.56
-
Squad number6Player nameOriol RomeuAverage rating
8.27
-
Squad number35Player nameBednarekAverage rating
8.25
-
Squad number27Player nameDialloAverage rating
8.08
-
Squad number17Player nameS ArmstrongAverage rating
8.07
-
Squad number22Player nameSalisuAverage rating
8.03
-
Squad number23Player nameTellaAverage rating
7.95
-
Squad number15Player namePerraudAverage rating
7.79
-
Squad number44Player nameForsterAverage rating
7.76
-
Squad number4Player nameLyancoAverage rating
7.65
-
Squad number9Player nameA ArmstrongAverage rating
7.37
-
Squad number11Player nameRedmondAverage rating
7.36
Brentford
-
Squad number27Player nameJaneltAverage rating
5.33
-
Squad number19Player nameMbeumoAverage rating
4.87
-
Squad number6Player nameNørgaard
Average rating4.71
-
Squad number20Player nameAjer
Average rating4.55
-
Squad number8Player nameJensen
Average rating4.48
-
Squad number26Player nameBaptiste
Average rating4.30
-
Squad number30Player nameRoerslev
Average rating4.29
-
Squad number36Player nameStevens
Average rating4.27
-
Squad number5Player namePinnock
Average rating4.19
-
Squad number17Player nameToney
Average rating4.08
-
Squad number7Player nameCanós
Average rating3.96
-
Squad number18Player nameJansson
Average rating3.94
-
Squad number11Player nameWissa
Average rating3.88
-
Squad number40Player nameFernández
Average rating3.74
Line-ups
Southampton
Formation 3-5-2
- 44Forster
- 35Bednarek
- 4Lyanco
- 22Salisu
- 23TellaSubstituted forS Armstrongat 70′minutes
- 8Ward-Prowse
- 6Romeu
- 27Diallo
- 15Perraud
- 11RedmondSubstituted forAdamsat 65′minutes
- 18BrojaSubstituted forA Armstrongat 78′minutes
Substitutes
- 5Stephens
- 7Long
- 9A Armstrong
- 10Adams
- 13Caballero
- 16Small
- 17S Armstrong
- 38Simeu
- 48Chauke
Brentford
Formation 3-5-2
- 40Fernández
- 20Ajer
- 18Jansson
- 5PinnockSubstituted forJensenat 68′minutes
- 30Roerslev
- 27Janelt
- 6Nørgaard
- 26BaptisteSubstituted forWissaat 56′minutes
- 7CanósSubstituted forStevensat 76′minutes
- 19Mbeumo
- 17ToneyBooked at 45mins
Substitutes
- 2Thompson
- 8Jensen
- 9Forss
- 11Wissa
- 14Ghoddos
- 28Bidstrup
- 29Bech Sørensen
- 36Stevens
- 49Lössl
- Referee:
- Stuart Attwell
- Attendance:
- 27,383
Match Stats
Live Text
-
Match ends, Southampton 4, Brentford 1.
-
Second Half ends, Southampton 4, Brentford 1.
-
Foul by Ivan Toney (Brentford).
-
Ibrahima Diallo (Southampton) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
-
Yoane Wissa (Brentford) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
-
Foul by Lyanco (Southampton).
-
Kristoffer Ajer (Brentford) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
-
Foul by Ibrahima Diallo (Southampton).
-
Attempt saved. Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Mathias Jensen with a through ball.
-
Attempt saved. Ivan Toney (Brentford) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the centre of the goal.
-
Attempt blocked. Ivan Toney (Brentford) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Finley Stevens with a headed pass.
-
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by James Ward-Prowse.
-
Attempt saved. Adam Armstrong (Southampton) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Ibrahima Diallo.
-
Substitution, Southampton. Adam Armstrong replaces Armando Broja because of an injury.
-
Substitution, Brentford. Finley Stevens replaces Sergi Canós because of an injury.
-
Goal! Southampton 4, Brentford 1. Che Adams (Southampton) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Ibrahima Diallo.
-
Substitution, Southampton. Stuart Armstrong replaces Nathan Tella because of an injury.
-
Substitution, Brentford. Mathias Jensen replaces Ethan Pinnock.
-
Substitution, Southampton. Che Adams replaces Nathan Redmond because of an injury.
-
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Lyanco.
- Our coverage of your Premier League club is bigger and better than ever before – here’s everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment