This match went almost exactly to Ralph Hasenhüttl’s plan, which means the season has a strong chance of going to the plan that Southampton put in place when they appointed the Austrian in December.
They were a rabble back then, with nine points from their first 14 matches of the season. This win took them closer to safety with a tally of 33 points, the same as Brighton, who, in addition to figuring out a way to get past Manchester City in next Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final, must be wary of slipping into the bottom three.
Hasenhüttl switched from his usual formation with three centre-backs to a back four and his team took charge from the start. Their goal in the 53rd minute could have come straight from a textbook on gegenpressing.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg started the move by winning the ball in midfield, passing it on and charging forward. The impressive Stuart Armstrong fed Nathan Redmond, who slipped it into the path of Højbjerg, who, having darted into the box, poked the ball over the advancing goalkeeper from eight yards.
“When we won the ball it was the perfect opportunity we had been waiting for,” Hasenhüttl said.
Southampton played as a swarm, buzzing around their opponents in an attacking shape that was as difficult to define as they were to repel. But Brighton under Chris Hughton have never been ashamed to defend in numbers at home and they gave Southampton little room to manoeuvre. The visitors would need to be fast and precise to break through and at first that looked to be beyond them.
Brighton recorded the first shot, Alireza Jahanbakhsh sending a bobbly effort wide from the edge of the area. Too often, however, Brighton’s counterattacks unravelled because one of their players, usually Anthony Knockaert or Dale Stephens, did not release the ball fast enough. Glenn Murray was barely involved.
Southampton were more incisive, except when it came to making the final cut. Redmond forced a save from Mat Ryan after shuffling his way past Martin Montoya and letting fly. Danny Ings was foiled by a fine block by Bernardo da Silva.
Two minutes later Knockaert had to make a similar intervention to foil Redmond after a defence-splitting pass by Højbjerg.
Southampton were starting to stretch their hosts and Lewis Dunk had to make a block from Armstrong, while Redmond fired wide.
“They were the better team in the first half,” said Hughton, who must have been relieved to have his team come in level.
Brighton did not come out any more dynamic or inspired and Southampton did not stop pestering them. So it was no shock when the visitors took the lead in the 53rd minute.
“Unfortunately it took the goal against us to turn our fortunes around with regard to our level of performance,” said Hughton.
Brighton needed to perk up, but instead Southampton caused more alarm with a flowing attack just before the hour, Dunk having to make a panicked clearance off the line.
Not until the last 20 minutes did Brighton show any teeth. In the 70th minute Shane Duffy retrieved a long cross by Knockaert and passed it back to Montoya, whose shot bounced out off the bar. Soon afterwards Brighton appealed in vain for a penalty after Davy Pröpper went down while trying to pounce on a cross spilled by Angus Gunn.
Brighton forced the visitors to defend for the remainder of the match, something Southampton did as if their Premier League lives depended on it.
“We do not feel really safe yet,” said Hasenhüttl. “Other teams are winning too.”
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