Southampton beat Stoke 2-1 thanks to Graziano Pelle

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The Italian striker bagged two first half goals to seal the win, with Marko Arnautovic pulling one back in the second period before Saints were reduced to ten men late on with Sadio Mane sent off 15 minutes after coming on as a sub.

Victory lifted Saints above Stoke and up to seventh in the table, ending a run which had seen them pick up just one point from the previous three games.

Stoke came out looking purposeful and Giannelli Imbula typified that as with just two minutes gone he ran half the length of the pitch before shooting from 20 yards out but dragged his effort wide.

Saints were having to soak up a lot of early Stoke pressure as the home side dominated possession and were grateful that Ibrahim Afellay’s well struck shot from inside the area hit Virgil van Dijk and went safe.

Out of nowhere Saints almost took the lead on ten minutes as Shane Long whipped in a right footed cross from the left that was met by a flicked header from Graziano Pelle ten yards out but Jack Butland dived to tip it over the bar.

However, he was helpless to stop the Italian striker netting from the resulting corner.

Steven Davis curled it in from the left and Pelle nipped in front of several Stoke players to this time flick a near post header from six yards out that went through Butland before he could react.

It could have been 2-0 three minutes later as Shane Long bent his run to beat the offside trap and found himself one-on-one with Butland. From a relatively tight angle to the right Long could only find the Stoke keeper who stood firm to make the save.

The Saints goal really disrupted the pattern of the game. Suddenly, Stoke were not looking so confident or assured on the ball, with Saints pressurising them and regularly breaking up the play.

They paid the price for it too as Saints doubled their lead on the half hour mark.

Pelle retrieved an over hit Cuco Martina cross on the left wing and fed it to Dusan Tadic.

The striker continued his run into the box and Tadic fed him the ball. Pelle opened up his body to curl a shot towards the far corner which Butland got down to and really should have saved but didn’t and it was 2-0.

Stoke made an immediate change with Bojan replacing Xherdan Shaqiri.

It didn’t make much difference to their fortunes though.

They were suddenly very flat with Saints hassling them into mistakes and looking by far the more dangerous team with Tadic’s skill and Long’s pace off of Pelle a constant threat.

Saints should have put the game to bed in first half stoppage time but blew a golden opportunity.

Long broke away down the right and unselfishly squared to Tadic in the area.

Rather than hit it first time he brought the ball under control, and then jinked inside to create an open goal for him to aim at from inside the six yard box. However, inexplicably, he opted for another touch and his dithering meant he was challenged and Saints had to settle for a two goal lead at the break.

It took less than two minutes of the second period for referee Lee Mason to produce the first yellow card of the match for a late challenge by Jordy Clasie.

Saints were dealt a blow though as Stoke pulled one back on 52 minutes.

Afellay was allowed time to play in a low cross from the left which was met by a darting run from Marko Arnautovic. He got to the ball ahead of van Dijk and turned home first time past Fraser Forster from close range at the near post.

Erik Pieters was the next in the book for a foul on Steven Davis.

Forster had to make his first real save of the game on 58 minutes as Arnautovic spun Martina and fired in a fierce shot from just inside the area but it was central and the Saints stopper parried it away.

Stoke were in control of the game once again, suddenly rampant as they looked for an equaliser while Saints were looking shaky.

Only a great block from van Dijk prevented Mame Diouf from testing Forster again.

Saints made their first change to try and get greater control of the game on 69 minutes with James Ward-Prowse replacing Clasie.

Tadic appealed desperately for a penalty five minutes later as he went down in the box, going over Butland’s leg as he came off his line to try and close him down.

Referee Mason appeared to look long and hard at it before awarding a goal kick.

That was the last action for Tadic as he was replaced by Sadio Mane.

Stoke responded with former Saints striker Peter Crouch coming on for Glenn Whelan as they prepared to go long in search of a goal.

Saints then brought on Maya Yoshida at centre half with Matt Targett coming off and Ryan Bertrand moving to left back.

Ward-Prowse so nearly sealed the Saints win as he stepped up to hit a free kick 25 yards out just to the left of centre. It had plenty of curl on it and dipped after going over the wall.

Butland appeared totally beaten but the ball struck the crossbar and bounced back out.

The game took another twist moments into five minutes of added time as Mane was sent off.

Mason adjudged that he jumped into a challenge with Pieters leading with his arm and produced a straight red card.

However, it appeared that Mane made no contact with the head of Pieters with his arm and rather the Stoke man went down as their bodies came together.

Saints closed the game down well though and held out to take a deserved three points.