Southampton have secured an emphatic 3-0 win over Norwich City in their Premier League clash at St Mary's, Graziano Pelle's opener followed up by Dusan Tadic's brace.
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James Ward-Prowse threatened early on when his free kick in the first minute dipped over the wall and was met by a sprawling stop from John Ruddy.
Just two minutes later the hosts had another dangerous chance, Jose Fonte latching onto a Tadic corner and sidefooting a volley over the bar.
The action continued to flow as, nine minutes in, Sebastien Bassong managed to get ahead of Pelle during a corner and forcing the Italian to head just wide.
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Against the run of play, Norwich came within a whisker of opening the scoring when Graham Dorrans's ball over the top caught the Southampton defence napping, but Cameron Jerome hesitated for too long and meekly headed wide.
The Canaries found themselves down to ten men just after the half-hour mark when Steven Whittaker earned two yellow cards in quick succession, the second for a tug on Tadic's shirt.
Just when it seemed like it would be all square at the break, Sadio Mane expertly squared the ball up for Pelle, who beat Ruddy with a clinical shot into the right side of the net in the second minute of first-half injury time.
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Southampton continued to press after the restart, with Ruddy called upon to pull off a double save from Mane and Jay Rodriguez after he shanked his clearance straight to the opposition.
Pelle then fired into the side netting just before the hour and moments later was denied a penalty after Bassong appeared to haul him down.
This mattered little because in the 64th minute, the Saints doubled their lead, courtesy of Tadic hammering Mane's cross into the top corner.
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Three minutes later it was game over as another devastating Mane cross saw Pelle head goalwards, and despite Ruddy getting down low to stop the shot, the goalkeeper couldn't do anything about Tadic's rebound.
The result sees Southampton soar into the top half of the Premier League table, while Norwich sit in 14th place.
Giuseppe Labellarte
