Norwich City scored a 1-0 victory over Southampton at Carrow Road on the weekend.
Alex Neil's Canaries moved six points clear of the relegation zone courtesy of Alexander Tettey's 76th-minute goal which eventually downed Ronald Koeman's Saints who lost Victor Wanyama to a red card just minutes before the goal.
The two moments that separated the sides occurred late in the game when Wanyama strongly slid in on Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe to be shown his second yellow of the day in the 73rd minute before the young Belgian dusted himself off to provide the ball for Tettey who fired beyond Maarten Stekelenburg with a lovely left-footed finish.
The win has Norwich sitting 15th on the table with a third triumph in four outings as the Saints dropped to 13th having lost for the fourth time in their past five matches.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Norwich City: 1 (Alexander Tettey 76')
Southampton: 0 (red card: Victor Wanyama 73')
Carrow Road, Norwich - 27,022
TALKING POINTS
- Was it a moment of madness from Wanyama who had already picked up a yellow card earlier in the match? Koeman was not happy with the ill-discipline of the Kenyan.
- Norwich have put together a mini-run amidst their recent loss to Tottenham. It appears they have the quality to stay up if they can attract some additional quality this month.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Norwich prepare for the FA Cup 3rd round encounter with Manchester City at home on the weekend before focusing their attention on the league trip to Stoke City on Wednesday.
Southampton will be looking to progress in the cup when they host Crystal Palace on Saturday prior to the home league fixture with Watford next week.
TWITTER INSIGHT
READ | "Whenever I score it gets talked about!", says City midfielder: https://t.co/S9dWOkUPSJ#ncfcpic.twitter.com/XWBc4oTLBv
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) January 3, 2016I tried to explain why I am angry after this defeat! This is not the discipline what we like in the Club to be successful!
— Ronald Koeman (@RonaldKoeman) January 2, 2016
QUOTES CORNER
Norwich boss Neil on his side's recent form:
"I'm over the moon with the boys in particular, because when you are going through difficult spells, there have been questions posed about them and me - and the best way to deal with it is to win games.
"We've won some crucial games now and kept two clean sheets as well, so there are a lot of positives to take."
Southampton's Koeman on the result which could have been different if not for Wanyama's sending off:
"I agree that we were the dominant team, that we had the best chance in the game when Shane Long was put through, and we played some good football.
"But it's so unnecessary what happened because with 11 against 11, still we are stronger than we showed here and we know we are in a difficult situation.
"I'm angry about players who are not focused and concentrated on the club. That's my worst disappointment of the day."
