Chris Sutton believes Southampton have rebounded from losing Victor Wanyama and Sadio Mane.
Chris Sutton
Pundit Chris Sutton has told BBC Sport that he thinks Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk and Nathan Redmond are now Southampton’s three key players.
Southampton were simply superb on Sunday, as they coasted past West Ham United with a convincing 3-0 win at the London Stadium.
Southampton’s Fraser Forster
Charlie Austin, Dusan Tadic and James Ward-Prowse all got on the scoresheet for the Saints, who are really starting to pick up momentum under Claude Puel after a slow start.
The Frenchman replaced Ronald Koeman over the summer, and picked up just two points in his first four Premier League games. Now though, Southampton have won their last four games in all competitions without even conceding a goal.
Upwardly mobile and with aspirations of another top eight finish, Southampton continue to impress even having lost another manager and more players over the summer.
Southampton manager Claude Puel and Virgil van Dijk
Koeman made the shock decision to join Everton, whilst star players Victor Wanyama, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle left for Tottenham, Liverpool and Shandong Luneng respectively.
With Southampton impressing again, pundit Chris Sutton told BBC Sport that losing Wanyama, Mane and Pelle was ‘big’, and it’s difficult to replace players of that quality – but he did suggest that Puel now has three new key players at his disposal.
Southampton’s Nathan Redmond celebrates scoring
Sutton named Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk and Nathan Redmond as Southampton’s key trio now, and later took to Twitter to state that Dutch defender Van Dijk – signed from Sutton’s former club Celtic – was ‘majestic’ against West Ham on Sunday.
“For Southampton losing Sadio Mane, Victor Wanyama and Graziano Pelle was big,” said Sutton. “It becomes tough to replace that sort of quality. However I must say Southampton have used Nathan Redmond well so far. He’s player who can develop a lot. He can be a bit greedy and predictable.”
“I’m also a big fan of Fraser Forster. He’s an outstanding goalkeeper and I’ve been impressed by Virgil van Dijk since he joined. You sense those three are key for Southampton now,” he added.
Do you think Forster, Van Dijk and Redmond are key for Southampton now?
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