Southampton 8-0 Sunderland: Ronald Koeman's side destroy hapless Black Cats to keep pace with Manchester City and Chelsea
Southampton steamrollered Sunderland by hitting eight goals past them for their biggest league win in almost a century. The last time scenes like this were seen was when they scored eight away from home against Northampton Town in December 1921.
Ninety-three years later and Southampton repeated the feat in front of a home crowd for the first time.
The home side were already cruising four goals ahead when they added four goals in 16 minutes of devastation to annihilate the visitors.
Only two teams have ever scored more in a single Premier League game; Manchester United hit nine past Ipswich in 1995 and Tottenham did the same against Wigan in 2009.
But this result added Ronald Koeman's Southampton into the pantheon of great performances.
Even the Southampton manager admitted he was surprised by the result. 'I'm still a little bit in shock,' Koeman said afterwards. 'That is not a normal result. I was surprised after 20 minutes about the score; 2-0 up and we didn't start the game well. Sunderland were dominating and we had problems.
'The first 20 minutes it was very flat. But that's football and sometimes you're surprised how the game is changing. If you're asking me after 15 mins if it will be an easy win my answer would be no.
'In the end we played great football, we scored great goals and it was a great afternoon.'
The tone was set for the afternoon when Santiago Vergini scored the own goal of the season in only the 11th minute.
Sunderland's defender can surely not have struck a sweeter volley and the ball flew into the bottom-right corner past his own goalkeeper Vito Mannone.
St Mary's Stadium was momentarily stunned into silence.
An incredulous Gus Poyet was the most shocked. 'Even if you watch that 20 times you don't know how it can happen,' the Sunderland manager said.
The home side doubled their lead on 18 minutes when Steven Davis ran down the left flank and sent in a low cross for Graziano Pelle, completely free, to continue his tremendous form with a tap in.
Then, with similarly sloppy marking, it was three on 37 minutes. Jack Cork made a late run into the box and was not picked up, Dusan Tadic picked him out with a clipped ball from inside the box on the left and he forced the ball in.
Substitute Liam Bridcutt added to Sunderland's embarrassment by sending the ball into his own net in the 62nd minute.
Pelle's shot was saved by Mannone but the ball squirmed into the path of Bridcutt, then squirmed between his feet, then squirmed over the line.
If only Poyet had pointed his players in the right direction.
It took only another seven minutes before Southampton made it five. This time Pelle made no mistake with his shot, running on to Tadic's through ball and sending a the ball across goal into the bottom left corner.
That was his sixth goal in eight Premier League games since signing in the summer, celebrating in fitting style his player of the month award and scoring on his Italy debut during the international break.
Southampton were as relentless as Sunderland were shocking and added another two goals in the space of a minute.
Mannone played his part in Sunderland's comedy show, passing the ball straight to Tadic who sent it back past him and into the open net on 78 minutes.
Then almost straight from the kick off substitute Victor Wanyama fired first-time past the Sunderland goalkeeper.
And with four minutes remaining Tadic crossed low into the box for another substitute, Sadio Mane, to run in and place the ball into the net.
The result well and truly dispelled the myth that the winner of the manager of the month award goes on to have a poor result in their next game.
After the accolade was picked up by Koeman for leading Southampton to the top three in the opening part of this season, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho reminded everyone of the that curse ahead of the weekend's fixtures.
That he is even mentioning Koeman says a great deal about how much of an impression Southampton, in third, are making.
'Maybe I thank Mourinho for that,' Koeman joked. 'He gave my players motivation. I like Mourinho. I look forward to playing Chelsea.'
The game could have been different had referee Andre Marriner awarded Sunderland a first-half penalty when Steven Fletcher was played through on goal by Lee Cattermole, knocked the ball past the on-rushing Fraser Forster then tumbled over the Southampton goalkeeper.
It was still only 2-0 at that point. 'If the ref did his job, it's a penalty and a red card and maybe 2-1 and then we're talking about a different game,' Poyet explained.
A Sunderland fan who had made the 650-mile round trip, across the whole country and back, was caught on camera sobbing by the end. No wonder, it was the first time they had conceded eight since September 1982 against Watford.
'I can't explain what happened,' Poyet added. 'I will let the players explain to you, maybe they will have better words. I don't.
'It's going to be a difficult week. The players who are on the pitch next week are going to do something about it.'
