Southampton moved to the top of the Premier League for the first time ever with a comfortable win over Newcastle.

Saints last led the English top flight back in September 1988, before the formation of the Premier League, when they were at the former ground The Dell and the manager was Chris Nicholl.

It proved a disappointing evening for Newcastle, who remain 11th in the table.

Steve Bruce’s side were woeful in attack, barely creating a chance on goal, while contributing to their defeat with careless defending for both goals.

Miguel Almiron’s failure to clear his lines allowed Theo Walcott to pick out Adams for the opener, while Sean Longstaff gifted possession to Armstrong on the edge of his own penalty area for the second.

Walcott, Jan Bednarek and Oriol Romeu all went close to adding to Southampton’s tally as they racked up their fifth win in six games.

No Ings, no problem

With top scorer Danny Ings injured Saints fans could have been forgiven for wondering just where their goals were going to come from.

Ings, whose impressive early-season form led to an England recall five years after his last cap, had been responsible for 36% of Southampton’s goals prior to this fixture after forming an effective partnership with Che Adams.

So, in his absence it was hardly a surprise to see Adams assume more responsibility, with Walcott cast in a supporting central role.

Only an excellent save from Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow prevented Adams from scoring with a curling effort towards the top right corner.

But moments later he opened the scoring with a wonderful volley from 12 yards after good work from Kyle Walker-Peters and Walcott.

With Oriol Romeu and James Ward-Prowse controlling the tempo and popping passes round and through the visitors, Saints eventually got a merited second goal.

Longstaff’s dawdling saw Armstrong deprive him off the ball and cut inside before dispatching a left-foot shot into the bottom left corner.

It was no more than Saints – who saw Darlow tip a sparkling Romeu effort onto the crossbar – deserved and it underlined a remarkable turnaround in their fortunes from 12 months ago.

Languishing in the bottom three and still reeling from a 9-0 home loss to Leicester, Hasenhuttl and Southampton appeared to be in turmoil.

Now they are top of the pile and the Austrian is being linked with the Manchester United manager’s role currently occupied by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Newcastle’s profligacy in possession costs them

Defensive solidity had been a key facet of Newcastle’s previous two Premier League outings.

So Magpies boss Bruce’s frustration in the technical area was evident as his team appeared to dispense with a formula that worked so well against Wolves and Everton.

Not only did Newcastle fail to play the percentages in defence, they constantly lost possession cheaply.

Only two Newcastle players managed a passing accuracy of over 80% and that ensured they were unable to construct any sort of foundation to attack.

Almiron and Longstaff will bear the brunt of Bruce’s anger over the goals but Jamal Lewis, Federico Fernandez and Jacob Murphy also put their side into difficulty on several occasions.

Not even a tweak in style to be more direct with the introduction of Andy Carroll and Joelinton could rouse Newcastle, who won on the same ground in March.

More to follow.

Player of the match

AdamsChe Adams

Newcastle United

1. Squad number26Player nameDarlow

2. Squad number6Player nameLascelles

3. Squad number13Player nameC Wilson

4. Squad number23Player nameMurphy

5. Squad number9Player nameJoelinton

6. Squad number5Player nameSchär

7. Squad number18Player nameFernández

8. Squad number10Player nameSaint-Maximin

9. Squad number15Player nameLewis

10. Squad number4Player nameM Longstaff

11. Squad number16Player nameHendrick

12. Squad number36Player nameS Longstaff

13. Squad number24Player nameAlmirón

14. Squad number7Player nameCarroll

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