Charlie Austin converted a penalty late on as Southampton defeated West Ham 3-2 at St Mary's.

An inability to score in their past six home games had contributed to the dismissal of Claude Puel and continued in last week's 0-0 draw with Swansea in new manager Mauricio Pellegrino's first match in charge, despite 29 shots on goal.

In West Ham they then found accommodating opposition, whose hopes of recovering from a 4-0 defeat at Manchester United suffered when the reckless Marko Arnautovic was sent off in the first half.

The club-record signing was given a red card in the 33rd minute after he appeared to elbow Jack Stephens when they already trailed to Manolo Gabbiadini's opening goal.

Austin's late penalty, following Dusan Tadic's in the first half, then secured a first league victory of the season for fifth-placed Southampton, who almost drew once again after Javier Hernandez's two goals took the visitors level.

Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino said, “I'm really pleased because we got the three points from a difficult game. It was a difficult game to be a manager but a nice game to be a fan!

“After the second goal, we couldn't control some situations like the long balls and the second balls in our box.

“In the challenge I think they were better than us, but in the Premier League every single team has the quality to create problems. It's better to learn and grow after winning."