Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has praised his side after they comfortably beat Norwich 2-0 on Friday night.
Oriol Romeu and Che Adams were on target against the Canaries – who remain bottom of the Premier League – at St Mary’s Stadium.
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Hasenhuttl was pleased with his team’s professionalism, insisting playing as favourites against a team you are expected to beat is ‘tough’.
The Austrian told Sky Sports (quotes via BBC Sport): “We had a lot of chances against an organised opponent. It was a tight game.
“We were able to adapt our game and have different behaviours. That slowed their game down and then we scored our goals.
“We found Angus Gunn was like a magnet today. We had a lot of shots but he was always there and we had to wait for an unbelivable strike from Oriel.
“It’s an amazing goal. We had a few shots from this position but not all of them were on target. Oriel is super strong, he’s so calm on the ball and he’s so important for our game. When he starts scoring goals we can’t ask for more.
“These are the toughest wins to get, against teams where everyone expects you to win. The last two teams coming here were in a relegation battle and we won 2-0 with a clean sheet. People think it’s easy but it’s not.”
Speaking to Match of the Day, Saints boss Hasenhuttl added: “Oriol tries this sometimes from outside the box and it was an important goal for us.
“Kyle Walker-Peters enjoys it on the left side. It shows his intelligence, the qualities he has and he’s super hard to defend against with his low centre of gravity. This is the quality we have now.”
On targets this season, he continued: “There’s still a long way to go but everyone feels it now. When you see the reaction of the fans there was not one moment when people weren’t believing we could win. That is a new feeling here I think.”