Adam Armstrong produced an attacking masterclass as Southampton dispatched Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 to equal their longest English Football League unbeaten record.
Top scorer Armstrong scored one and set up Che Adams, Ryan Fraser and Sekou Mara as Saints leapt into the top two for the first time since the opening day and closed the gap to table-toppers Leicester to 10 points.
Saints are now unbeaten in 19 league games and 20 in all competitions, which is their best run since becoming a Football League club in 1920.
The club’s all-time record, the only better than the current run, of 24 in 1896 and 1897 came when they were known as Southampton St Mary’s and had yet to move to the Dell.
The hosts would enjoy the better of the first half but the first two minutes belonged to Wednesday.
First, Saints keeper Gavin Bazunu took a heavy touch and was mugged by Josh Windass, but the attacker could not squeeze in.
From the corner, Michael Ihiekwe headed wide – but the visitors would not have another first-half shot as Saints monopolised the possession.
Centre-back Ihiekwe had to think fast to run back onto his own goal line after Fraser had volleyed into the ground and over goalkeeper Cameron Dawson.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed a corner over but otherwise, it was a test in patience until Adams opened the scoring in the 35th minute.
Adams, who is out of contract in the summer and has been linked with a Premier League move this month, latched onto an Armstrong cross via a Bambo Diaby error, beat a defender and lashed into the bottom corner.
It was the Scotland international’s eighth goal of the season, and Armstrong’s 10th assist.
Wednesday brought on Ashley Fletcher and Will Vaulks at the break and rallied when the former pinged a low effort towards the bottom corner, with Bazunu flinging himself to his right to save.
In the 63rd minute, Saints gave themselves daylight with a smart counter which saw Adams nick the ball off Diaby and slot through to Stuart Armstrong. He found Adam Armstrong in acres of space to notch for the 14th time this campaign.
Bazunu battered away a Windass free-kick before Di’Shon Bernard cleared Adam Armstrong’s attempt off the line as the game became open.
Fraser continued from the two goals he scored against Walsall in the FA Cup by adding a third in the 75th minute.
The Newcastle loanee steered in but Adam Armstrong’s burst, stepovers and vision to pick out Fraser across the box was the catalyst for the goal.
Armstrong was at it again with five minutes to go when he squared for substitute Mara to tap in to make it nine straight St Mary’s wins.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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