As the Premier League continues its shorten season, first place Everton suffered their first loss of the season to Southampton. The 2-0 loss also saw Everton’s Lucas Digne getting red carded during the second half at the St. Mary’s Stadium on Sunday.
Danny Ings, who is the top scored for Southampton was instrumental is setting up the tams first game. That saw James Ward-Prowse scoring the opening goal at the 27th minute mark after he picked up the pass from Ings.
This was the worse performance from Everton all season and, while the remained scoreless, it got worse in the 71st minute after Lucas Digne, who plays left-back, was sent packing for racking his studs over the leg of Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters.
Carlo Ancelotti, Everton’s manager, was not at all pleased with the officials decision to send off Digne and referred to it as a joke. Ancelotti suggested that officials bowed to pressure over the publicity surrounding the tackle made by Jordan Pickford against Liverpool Richarlison in their match from the previous week.
While addressing the controversy to the media, Ancelotti stated: “Maybe all this talk all week against Pickford, against Richarlison, affected the decision, and if so it’s not right, it’s not fair. We will appeal, for sure.”
Everton were successful in their first four Premier League games of the season, and its fifth win over Liverpool last week kept the club at the top of the standings. However, while Everton sits atop Liverpool, the difference between the two is only one goal after the loss to Southampton on Sunday.
Southampton Responds to previous weeks loss
Ralph Hasenhuttl, who is Southampton’s manager was quizzed on there previous 9-0 loss. While addressing the issue to the media, Hasenhuttl stated that as a club, they didn’t talk about it this week. All that was important to the team was what they did going forward.
Addressing the media, Hasenhuttl stated: “Now we don’t even think about it any more, I don’t care. My team did a fantastic job today,” he added, “from the first moment you could feel that the plan was working and the guys were sticking to it. It was one of the best first halves so far for us.”