Adam Armstrong scored his eighth goal of the season as Southampton eased to a 3-1 Sky Bet Championship victory and condemned Wayne Rooney to a third straight defeat as Birmingham manager.
Forward Armstrong now has eight career goals against Blues, more than he has scored against any other side, as he settled the game with a fine finish.
He had set up Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ opener before Carlos Alcaraz tapped in – both players’ first goals of the season. Jay Stansfield pulled one back for the visitors but it could not help end Rooney’s winless run.
Southampton had monopolised the opening stages without creating anything clear-cut until Harwood-Bellis nodded in the ninth-minute opener.
Armstrongs Stuart and Adam worked a short-corner routine before the latter lifted for the Manchester City loanee to power in his third professional goal, and first since last September.
Blues rallied but Oliver Burke’s lashed effort into the side netting – their only shot of the first half – poked the hosts back into life.
Kamaldeen Sulemana and Stuart Armstrong linked up smartly on the left flank before the Ghanaian slid across the face of the goal for Alcaraz to push in.
Rooney had been booed after Wednesday’s 2-0 home defeat by Hull, and Saints supporters rubbed their advantage in with a round of “sacked in the morning” aimed at the Manchester United great.
But rather than rub further salt into the wound of Rooney’s poor start, Birmingham fans supported their boss with cries of “Rooney, Rooney” and “Wayne Rooney’s Blue Army”.
Their support should have been rewarded with a spot-kick but goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu got away with flattening Burke in the box.
Saints should have gone into the break with more than a two-goal advantage as Harwood-Bellis’ free header from a corner skipped wide and Adam Armstrong clipped a one-on-one over John Ruddy but wide of the goal.
After the break, Stuart Armstrong tamely ended a well-worked move and Adam Armstrong’s diving header flashed wide.
But the hosts floundered and Blues capitalised. Stansfield jumped off the bench, met Lukas Jutkiewicz’s knockdown, bullied his way past Kyle Walker-Peters and rifled into the top corner – all within 52 seconds of his 57th-minute introduction.
It was Stansfield’s fourth goal of the season and extended Southampton’s wait for a home clean sheet to 28 matches.
But Saints held onto the ball well and made sure of the result in the 86th minute when top-scorer Adam Armstrong pounced and swivelled onto Sam Edozie’s nod down.
Scott Hogan curled one onto the roof of the goal in additional time but it could not stop Saints moving to a sixth game unbeaten to cement their place in the play-off spots.
Leeds edge 'basketball game' at Swansea as Gnonto nets injury-time winner
Wilfried Gnonto's stoppage-time strike fired Leeds United to the Championship summit as they beat Swansea City 4-3 in a contest defender Joe Rodon compared to a basketball game.
Daniel Farke's team were twice forced to come from behind in South Wales as a Manor Solomon strike and a Ben Cabango own goal saw them respond to first-half efforts from Harry Darling and Liam Cullen.
Solomon's second put Leeds 3-2 up with 73 minutes gone, but Florian Bianchini's 90th-minute leveller looked set to keep them third in the table, behind Sunderland and Sheffield United.
However, substitute Gnonto tucked home following an assist from former Swansea winger Dan James, sending the travelling fans into raptures and securing Leeds' second straight victory.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Rodon – who began his career with Swansea – said: "It was like a basketball game! Credit to the boys.
"Every game we want to keep a clean sheet, but you know how it is in the Championship, and Swansea made it difficult for us."
Gnonto now has eight goal involvements in the Championship this season, scoring three and assisting five.
Only Norwich City's Borja Sainz (11 goals, two assists), Middlesbrough's Finn Azaz (five goals and seven assists) and West Brom's Josh Maja (10 goals, one assist) have more.
Slot relishing Liverpool's Real Madrid, Man City double-header
Arne Slot is relishing Liverpool's upcoming double-header against Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Liverpool came from behind thanks to Mohamed Salah's second-half double to beat Southampton 3-2 on Sunday.
That victory at St Mary's moved the Reds eight points clear of Man City, who were thrashed 4-0 at home by Tottenham on Saturday for a fifth straight defeat in all competitions.
Pep Guardiola's team visit Anfield on December 1, though first the Reds host European champions Madrid in the Champions League.
And Slot cannot wait for Liverpool to go up against two heavyweights.
"It's what you need in a league like this, with so many quality teams. You have to keep winning because if you don’t, the other ones will," the Dutchman told BBC Sport.
"That's what we try to do every game, now it's Real Madrid and next Sunday it's Man City.
"You couldn't wish for more than playing these two games in the upcoming week, at home."
No manager in Premier League history has reached 10 wins in fewer matches from the start of their career in the competition than Slot (12 games, level with Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti).
Liverpool were indebted to Salah, however, with the forward dragging them level and then converting the winner from the penalty spot after Mateus Fernandes had put Southampton into a surprise lead early in the second half, following goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Adam Armstrong before the break.
Salah became the first player to score in five successive Premier League appearances for Liverpool since the Egyptian himself in October 2021 (seven in a row). His second goal was his 100th away from Anfield for Liverpool in all competitions.
"It was very good that Mo scored in that moment," said Slot of Salah's first goal, which came in the 65th minute when he nudged Ryan Gravenberch's pass beyond the stranded Alex McCarthy.
"It was not the best period of the game so he helped us with that and then afterwards we dominated so much, they got tired.
"That is what special players do. They can score goals out of nowhere. It's not completely out of nowhere because the assist of Gravenberch is a great ball as well, but Mo is known for the timing of his runs, he feels the right moment to run behind the last line, and normally you know he’s not offside because he always finds the right moment, and then he scores the goal, which was very helpful for us."
While Slot acknowledged Liverpool were tested by the Premier League's bottom club, he felt his team were always in control.
He added: "It wasn't a surprise for us, we saw how they played against Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle in away games, never mind how they would play in a home game against a top team. But we dominated. Because we went down 2-1, it made it really difficult for us.
"We dominated the whole game, which is not that easy against Southampton because they want possession, they want to dominate the game as well, but they couldn't. Because the scoreline was as it was, it felt like a difficult match, but if you look at the underlying numbers we deserved to win."
Those metrics support Slot's point. Liverpool accumulated 2.9 expected goals from 27 shots, 11 of which were on target, while they also limited Southampton to 37.9% possession.
Cooper sacked by Leicester after winless run
Leicester City have dismissed manager Steve Cooper after a run of four Premier League games without a win.
Cooper, who previously managed Leicester's rivals Nottingham Forest, only took charge of the Foxes for 15 games in all competitions.
He was appointed in June, after Enzo Maresca left to join Chelsea following Leicester's promotion back to the Premier League.
After going six league games without a win at the start of the season, Cooper appeared to have steadied the ship with victories over Bournemouth and Southampton.
However, a winless streak of four top-flight matches, in which Leicester lost to Forest, Manchester United and Chelsea, while drawing with Ipswich Town, has seen Cooper lose his position.
In a statement released on Sunday, Leicester confirmed Cooper's assistants Alan Tate and Steve Rands had also left the club, with Ben Dawson set to take charge until a replacement is appointed.
Former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter was reportedly in talks to join Leicester prior to Cooper's appointment in the summer.
The Foxes are 16th in the Premier League on 10 points after 12 games.
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