urnley won their third away game in five to move into the top half of the table and ten points clear of the relegation zone. Despite Danny Ings becoming Saints’s top goal scorer since their return to the Premier League in 2012, more calamitous defending condemned Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side to defeat on a miserable day on the South coast. Burnley led in farcical circumstances. Ashley Westwood swung in a low corner which Danny Ings inexplicably left, presuming it was going out of play. Instead the ball drifted over the line, with Saints keeper Alex McCarthy looking as bemused as everyone else. Sofiane Boufal darted down the right and crossed to the far post where Shane Long headed it back into the six-yard box, before Burnley cleared as Southampton sought an immediate reply. The Saints were well on top in the early stages but looked jittery when troubled at the other end. Jannick Vestergaard was surprisingly preferred to Jan Bednarek and the big Dane didn’t look comfortable as he collected an early booking. Soon Ings had atoned. Saints’ top scorer exchanged passes with the lively Boufal, found space on the edge of the area and finished decisively into the bottom right corner – his 18th goal of the season. They kept on pushing and Jack Stephens was inches away from scoring when he flicked a header against the crossbar after more excellent work from Boufal. When these teams met on the opening day of the season, Burnley swept the Saints aside in high winds, winning 3-0. The beginnings of Storm Dennis were whipping around St Mary’s but that didn’t damage the spectacle. Burnley rarely threatened though former Saints Jay Rodriguez did come close to diverting Phil Bardsley’s low shot past McCarthy. Hasenhuttl was then dealt a severe blow as Boufal, comfortably the game’s best player, was withdrawn through injury. The Saints boss had already lost the influential Nathan Redmond to a muscular injury in training on Friday. On came Malian Moussa Djenepo in his place as Saints again pressed at the beginning of the second half. A clever pass from Vestergaard almost let in Ings but his touch allowed Nick Pope to smother. As the conditions deteriorated, so did the spectacle. Ings again found space down the right and crossed for Long but the ball was just too high for the Irishman to connect. Burnley hadn’t threatened but they led on the hour mark. Jeff Hendrick’s long pass was expertly collected by Matej Vydra and he stepped past Kyle Walker-Peters and scored brilliantly into the top corner. The torrents of rain must have had Southampton’s defenders revisiting memories of their abject 0-9 defeat to Leicester. There was certainly no collapse of that magnitude but it was a poor showing from the home side in the second half. Huge appeals for a Southampton penalty were turned away by Simon Hooper and VAR after Stephens’ cross clearly struck the arm of Ben Mee. This was not to be the Saints’ day. Rodriguez was keen to inflict more pain and struck a fierce late shot which McCarthy turned over. There was one last chance left for Saints which fell to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg but the Saints captain was foiled by Pope. Burnley into 10th! Above Arsenal. It"s like a Football Manager save in 2048. Join me in the comments Fancy a chat about the game? What do you make of Southampton this season? Are Burnley ever going to get relegated? Are they ever going to finish in the top six? Come and hang out in the comments for a bit. 2:25pm FULL TIME Burnley hold on and win! And in truth it never really felt like they were having to hold on. Southampton just a little too pensive, over thinking things and lacking confidence today. 2:24pm 90+4 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Southampton are still struggling to get the ball through the lines, Burnley blocking their path to goal and getting rid of any danger. A proper Sean Dyche performance. 2:22pm 90+1 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 OOoooooohHHHh another big chance gone. This time it"s Southampton who miss with numbers forward, overloading the final third and pinning Burnley back. Bertrand curls a brilliant cross to the back post which Burnley can"t get away and it drops to Hojbjerg at the corner of the six yard box! He controls, steadies, then shoots at the near post but Nick Pope makes himself big and blocks. 2:19pm 88 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Obafemi has gone in for a header against Bardsley leading with a high elbow... and he gets a yellow card for it. That could easily have been red... and I wonder if Obafemi receives a nice gift in return for it if there is opportunity for it. 2:18pm 87 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Long off, Adams on. Southampton win a corner and need to really turn up the volume. The box is loaded... but the ball is clear. 2:16pm 85 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Burnley counter with a long ball forward and Vydra has a centre-back one v one near the box, carries it... and shoots hopefully from 25 yards across the goalkeeper who saves easily. Southampton are running out of time here. 2:14pm 83 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 HANDBALL! That must be a penalty! Stephens goes on a run, rides some challenges, gets all the way to wide of the area and chips a cross in. Ben Mee jumps to block and the ball comes off his arm. VAR has watched it back... and says no penalty. Mee"s arms judged not to be outside his usual frame. I"m not sure. I"d give that as a penalty, personally. 2:12pm 82 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Huge chance for Burnley! This is a real waste. More decent work down the left, Southampton"s defence plays attackers onside, lethargic looking attempts to win the ball back and Burnley get the ball to a striker inside the area. Hendrick doesn"t gamble on the back post cross, dropping to the penalty spot instead and the ball fired low across the area by Rodriguez ends up near the touchline instead of being turned into the net. 2:09pm 79 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Corner to Southampton. Ward-Prowse whips it in, headed to the edge of the box and Armstrong controls before trying to guide a shot into the top corner from 20 yards. He lifts it over the bar. 2:08pm 77 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 The referee misses another clear foul, this time on Obafemi, who came on for Walker-Peters a wee while ago. 2:07pm 76 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Burnley open up Southampton all of a sudden! McNeil skips past a challenge... and Vestergaard just jogs alongside rather than closing the danger down inside the area. But it all works out in the end as Vydra ends up being offside after a poor choice of pass in the box. 2:05pm 75 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Is it coincidence that as the weather has gotten worse Burnley have been better? 2:03pm 72 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Burnley have the momentum at the moment, Southampton unable to get into the final third and looking a bit nervous, particularly with forward passes. That is obviously an issue since it"s the most important part of this 4-2-2-2 system they"re playing. Burnley win a corner, McCarthy goes to punch it and ends up bouncing the ball over his own head! This could land in trouble... but Southampton get rid. Bardsley tries a shot from 40 yards and - and I know you"ll be surprised about this - he doesn"t score. 2:00pm 69 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Pretty sure half of Walker-Peters" throw-ins have been fouls today btw. 1:58pm 67 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 And I must now take back my criticism of Vestergaard. Initially in another bad defensive position, he recovers well to win the physical battle with Vydra and head back to his goalkeeper. 1:57pm 66 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Vestergaard is lucky to avoid giving a free-kick away which should also be a second yellow card. He has been a disaster today and if Hassenhuttl isn"t thinking about the substitution it might be something he regrets. Nowhere near it. 1:54pm 63 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 2 Southampton go forward straight from kick off and have players in decent positions. Bertrand has space on the edge of the box, lines up a shot then crosses it in and the ball pings off a Burnley head to go behind. The referee gives a goal kick. I"m going to have to assume I"ve missed something there because that was clearly a corner. 1:51pm That is outstanding!!! I need more exclamation marks to properly explain how good it is. Vydra drifts between the centre-backs, has space to control and turn a high pass on the chest, lifts the ball over Walker-Peters lame challenge and then launches a volley into the top corner of the near post. Superb. Vestergaard"s positioning was bad there but his efforts to correct were even worse. 1:51pm 60 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Apparently the wind has really picked up the last wee while, with Storm Dennis doing its best to destroy football. Southampton launch the ball forward after some short passing with the goalkeeper and Ings reads the flight brilliantly, especially considering the wind seems to carry it at speed. He races beyond the defender but has tight attention, slows then speeds up again to win a yard of pace just inside the box, wide of centre. A chipped ball to the back post is a decent height but no other player is close enough to take advantage. 1:47pm 56 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Bardsley goes in hard on Djenepo and the winger goes flying, screaming in pain, putting in a couple of extra rolls for dramatic effect to try and get him booked. It"s just a hard man"s block though, Djenepo is at it. 1:45pm 55 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Southampton are taking up such a narrow attacking shape that the widest winger is level with the centre spot. Or so it seems, because lurking in the background is the opposite side full-back stood in a channel of space. By squishing everything into a small area Southampton are creating space out on the flank. The refere has just missed a clear yellow on Armstrong by Taylor, who flies in with a slide tackle and wipes out the Scot. Not even a free-kick is given. 1:43pm 53 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Vydra turns Stephens with a clever spin and is caught by a trailing leg on the edge of the area but the referee sees no foul. It definitely is. 1:40pm 50 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Burnley"s build-up play: launch it long. Alternative option: chip it down the channel. Repeat until you win a throw-in in the opposite half. 1:40pm 48 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Southampton controlling the game in the early stages of the half. Pushing Burnley back with numbers and usually looking for an option down the left. Djenepo takes on the full-back and manages to slot a clever pass inside to Bertrand inside the area - Southampton"s full-backs are making underlapping runs - but Bertrand rushes the shot and slices it into the side netting. 1:36pm KICK OFF 2 We"re back. Burnley get the second half started. 1:23pm An ominous statistic Southampton have gone on to win each of their last five PL games when they"ve conceded the first goal and gone in at HT level. A sign?! Whilst Burnley have failed to win each of their last nine PL games when scoring 1st and being pegged back before HT and going in level (D2 L7) 1:20pm HALF TIME Weird start, Southampton the better side but Burnley look capable of scoring on the counter. Some shaky moments at the back for the home side but otherwise it"s been fairly well matched. 1:18pm 45 mins+3 - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Five minutes of injury time at the end of this half. There"s no great tempo to it but Southampton seem to be doing more off the ball. It really feels like a mistake is going to decide this game. 1:16pm 45 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Tarkowski is shouting things aggressively at someone and that"s as specific as I can be. Maybe it"s the wind. Yelling into the air. But you can"t fight the wind, James. 1:13pm 43 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Walker-Peters is playing ahead of a back three now, with the right-sided centre-back so wide he"s on the touchline. W-P gets the ball and tricks away from a challenge with a lovely dragback but is then fouled by McNeil, annoyed at being done by the skill. The right-back seems to be getting further forward now after that chat with Hassenhuttl. 1:09pm 40 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Walker-Peters is being given a lot of tactical instruction from Hassenhuttl. Boufal has taken his left boot off so definitely has to leave the pitch. Djenepo comes on in his place. He likes a shot from distance which is definitely something he should try in this wind. It"ll be like when you let go of a balloon and hopefully have the same noise too. Goal replays would be infinitely better if the ball made that noise every time. 1:07pm 37 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Boufal might have an injury now. He was hobbling earlier but as Burnley move up the pitch he drops to the floor and has a problem with his ankle. Looks fairly innocuous and is on his standing leg, not the right leg he used to swing in the cross which seems to have caused the issue. 1:05pm 34 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 VYDRAAAAAAAAAA doesn"t shoot with any power after more dreadful play by Southampton"s back four. Vestergaard at least redeems himself with a slide tackle to block the effort after the Burnley forward ran through towards goal. 1:01pm 31 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Dreadful tackle by Cork who is barged off the ball and then lunges with two feet in a scissor motion from behind. How on earth the referee doesn"t think this is a yellow card... That doesn"t even really do it justice. It"s clearly a revenge tackle because he"s embarrassed at being out-muscled by Ward-Prowse but the way he jumps in could so easily have caused real damage. Just a foul ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 12:58pm 29 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Hendrick is booked for a tactical foul/clear trip on Boufal as he ran through into the final third. About as obvious a yellow card as you"ll ever see. The kick goes wide with a short pass, Boufal takes on the wide defender, cuts onto his right and fires a cross into the area... and Stephens" header hits the bar! So close to a second for Southampton. 12:55pm 26 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Southampton, who want to be a counter-attacking side, have had 70 per cent of possession so far. Their average is 47 per cent. Burnley kicking long from goal kicks and free-kicks, hoping to get something off the second ball then dropping behind it when Southampton have possession. The thing is, there are definitely mistakes to take advantage of in the Saints back line. It"s not a bad plan at all. I mean it"s not amazing to watch but it can work. 12:53pm 23 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Rodriguez is inches away from reaching a low shot driven across the box. Vydra comes on for Wood. Southampton look really ropey at the back. Vestergaard is a walking mistake while Walker-Peters is being pressed into corners he doesn"t know how to escape from. 12:51pm 21 mins - Southampton 1 Burnley 1 Things get worse for Burnley as it looks like Ings is injured and has to go off. He was just running with the ball when something seemed to twang in his knee - no impact, nothing obvious. He"s had physio treatment for a bit but is now off. No substitute on in his place yet. 12:48pm GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!! Great strike by Ings! Southampton attack from goalkeeper to final third, Ings links with Armstrong, latches onto a loose ball as the Burnley defence is caught slightly out of shape and then lashes a powerful drive into the bottom corner. The goalie can"t get near it. 12:48pm 18 mins - Southampton 0 Burnley 1 Burnley are playing on the counter-attack now, aided by being a goal up, and are finding space down the wings to attack. McNeil gets a cross into the box from the left but it"s headed straight at the goalkeeper. 12:47pm 17 mins - Southampton 0 Burnley 1 Vestergaard is so lucky not to be in real trouble here. He intercepts a loose pass from Walker-Peters but runs into trouble and lunges into a challenge. Burnley play on but that should be a yellow card. Tarkowski goes in way too hard on Ings but takes the ball and nothing is mentioned of it. Ings has words with him after. That was a two footed lunge, I"m really surprised more wasn"t made of it. Vestergaard is rightly booked once play stops. 12:44pm 15 mins - Southampton 0 Burnley 1 The rain is blowing in sideways and the ball is definitely moving weirdly along with the wind. "As a player you don"t mind rain, it"s the wind that annoys you," says Jermaine Jenas. 12:44pm 13 mins - Southampton 0 Burnley 1 Burnley have a free-kick inside the Southampton half. It"s time to summon their old friend: That"s the girl with the power of wind (the force of nature, not gas) from Captain Planet, in case you weren"t sure. The free-kick is chipped forward, Tarkowski shows Zidane-like close control to take the ball down but can"t get it in the box. 12:39pm 10 mins - Southampton 0 Burnley 1 Stephens runs all the way from defence into the six yard box, Burnley just stand off him and have to dive in to concede a corner. Ward-Prowse whips it, Burnley clear. 12:38pm 8 mins - Southampton 0 Burnley 1 Southampton have had all the possession since that goal, taking on Burnley in the final third but unable to work the ball beyond the bodies blocking the box. Hojbjerg takes a shot from range which slices way wide... and the wind is so strong it curls it around and back into play. Mental. Corner to Southampton. Time to harness the power of the wind. Cleared. 12:36pm 5 mins - Southampton 0 Burnley 1 Such a bizarre goal. Westwood whips the ball in, the wind maybe takes it? Does it though? Ings moving out the way of the ball at the last second has completely done his goalkeeper in... but surely the goalie should have anticipated it! You can see Ings with his arms up below. That"s him spinning around to watch the ball drop in his own net. GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!! One of the weirdest goals I"ve ever seen! Westwood has scored straight from a corner! It"s a total mess. Ings can easily get rid of the ball at the near post from a mis-hit corner but he ducks out the way and the goalkeeper is behind his line! The ball is over the line and Burnley have the lead. 12:30pm KICK OFF Southampton get the game started and launch the ball out for a throw. Soccer. I"m led to believe the wind is really picking up and the weather generally isn"t very nice. So enjoy that while you sit in your house warm house/car/bus/train/pub. 12:26pm Why no Redmond? Hassenhuttl confirms that the winger suffered a muscle injury in training. He explains that Vestergaard is in for his physicality and because he"s better in possession than Bednarek. Makes sense. 12:18pm Hassenhuttl"s not having the Man City chat BT Sport ask Hassenhuttl if he"s excited that the new about Man City means eighth place might be enough for European football. A little smile and then a stock answer: "Win your games, you get what you deserve to get. It"s important to look game to game and get as much points as possible." 12:15pm Ings vs Wood Danny Ings has had a brilliant season so far with 14 goals in 21 league games and he must be in consideration for a place in the England squad. I"d say Abraham and Calvert-Lewin would be ahead in Southgate"s thinking but the latter is much better in a two - which England don"t play - and Ings is the superior pressing player of any. You can see the difference in style between Southampton"s star striker and Burnley"s main goalscorer in our player ranker. Some players excel in certain systems, and both of these players are exactly where they need to be to play their best. It"s not always as simple as taking a decent player from one team and getting the same performances out of them in another. Ings can"t hold the ball up like Wood or attack the back post like him either, but Wood can"t drive behind a defence and press with the same intensity from the front. Horses for courses. Footballers for.... pitches. 11:57am How Southampton play Hassenhuttl has changed from a 3-5-2 to a 4-2-2-2 in recent months and Southampton are much better for it. Out of possession it looks like a 4-2-4 but when they attack they go narrow, with width provided slightly further back from advanced full-backs. The front two push high to force defenders to pass wide, and as soon as that press starts everyone joins in. The wide midfielder goes to close down the opposite full-back, the Southampton full-back pushes up to close down the opposite winger and there is no time on the ball. A few of the Saints" goals this season have been from forcing turnovers high up the pitch using this. The shape also suits players like Redmond, Ings, Long and Armstrong who like to run the channels and move from a central position. It can all look a little chaotic at the time but everything is planned and structured. 11:44am Hayward on Manchester City"s punishment This is a great read on the fallout from last night"s news about Manchester City (I realise they"re not playing today, but it"s obviously pretty big news). Here"s a bit to set the tone: If this is a symbolic sanction, soon to to overturned at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it is nevertheless a turning point in the way English and European football has evolved. 11:37am Storm Dennis is turning up According to BT Sport"s commentary team, Storm Dennis Has started to show up. If the wind picks up it"ll make set pieces an absolute nightmare to defend against. Storm Ciara last week was entertaining in the Scottish Cup games played, with the ball rolling outside the box while goalkeepers tried to take goal kicks and passes doubling in speed as though in a slipstream. Great fun to watch, a horrible to play in. What a turn of events Hello everyone and welcome to the morning after stunning news that Manchester City are banned from the Champions League for two years. It probably won"t affect Southampton or Burnley"s season, or even the game today, but boy it came as a surprise. You can read all about that story here with loads of coverage from our team of writers but right here we"re going to focus on Southampton vs Burnley, because that"s the game this blog is about. Football! These two teams are level on points and if Southampton hadn"t been pumped 9-0 by Leicester, would be the opposite way around in the table. Burnley don"t deviate from their 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 shape, hitting long diagonals to the big striker and relying on the creativity of Dwight McNeil to score, while Southampton play high-tempo pressing football, shift the ball forwards quickly and have enjoyed the goals of Danny Ings in recent weeks. There tends to be goals in Southampton games - not necessarily for Ralph Hassenhuttl"s side - so this match should be a bit of fun to watch. It doesn"t sound like a blockbuster match but not everything"s about the top six and watching two very different approaches to the same sport usually throws up some surprises. Alternatively, both may cancel each other out. Southampton"s three centre-backs kills two Burnley forwards, but two banks of Burnley four slows down Saints trying to play swiftly through the lines. Stay with us for all the build up and action, and join me in the comments after for a wee chat about the game.