Southampton 0-1: Return to the Premier League with the signing of Armstrong

Southampton celebrates a wonderful return to the English Premier League! Just a year after their relegation, the ‘Saints’ were in the Championship final against Leeds (only the third time two relegated teams had met last season in the final) and with golden goalscorer Adam Armstrong beating them 1.-0 to follow Leicester and Ipswich in the First Division. English.

It is worth noting that Russell Martin’s side were victorious in the third round against Daniel Farke’s Leeds this season (they won both their matches in the regular season), with the Peacocks unable to exorcise the curse that wants them not to win promotion. Number of times they participated in the qualifying process (0/6 attempts).

the match

The high stakes for the final of the tournament qualifiers (the last ticket to the Premier League for the new season and a prize of 200 million euros) occupied both teams with great anxiety and intense pressure, and the result was that the good stages in the first half were counted on the fingers of one hand.

However, it was Southampton who found the back of the net in the 24th minute when Adam Armstrong, the ‘usual suspect’ this season (he has reached 24 goals since the start of the season), received a cross from Smallbone and curled in a brilliant diagonal effort that beat Meslier 1-0.

The Saints held their lead comfortably until the end of the first half and in the 45+1 minute they had a great chance for a second goal, with the Leeds goalkeeper this time blocking Armstrong’s cross.

In the second half, the pace was faster, but the chances for the two goals were not many, as Southampton played to keep the score in their favor and absorb most of the shock from the attacks of the Leeds players.

Farke threw all the cards he had on the bench during this period, and James was among Leeds’ changes (he came on in the 66th minute) and touched the equalizer on two occasions.

In the 84th minute, he fired an incredibly powerful shot that hit the crossbar, while in the 90th+4 minute, he tried to score with a powerful shot from high in the wide area, forcing McCarthy to make a difficult intervention.

It was also Leeds’ last threat against Southampton, as their players held out until the end of stoppage time and celebrated furiously with their fans in the Wembley stand for the impressive promotion.

• Linz: Meslier, Gray, Rondon, Abbado, Firpo (83′ Joseph), Kamara (73′ Roberts), Grove, Nieudo (66′ James), Rutter, Somerville (74′ Anthony), Peru.
• Southampton: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stevens, Aribo, Downs, Smallbone, Brooks (35′ Edozie (83′ Manning), Armstrong, Fraser (70′ Adams).