Southampton v Burnley: Premier League – live! | Football

31 min: Now it’s Vydra’s turn to attempt a homage to Bergkamp’s aforementioned goal against Newcastle! There must be something in the air. But Vestergaard stands firm as Vydra traps and spins, and puts an end to the Burnley striker’s ambition.

29 min: Cork comes straight through the back of Ward-Prowse, wrapping his leg around his opponents. That looked painful, though the Saints man isn’t hurt badly. For some reason, the referee doesn’t book Cork; it wouldn’t have been a completely absurd decision to send him off. But it’s just a firm word. Very strange.

28 min: Armstrong chips a pass down the inside-left channel for Boufal, who nearly executes a Bergkampesque trap and spin to free himself in the box. Not quite. The ball runs out of play. But nearly. Boufal was clearly of a mind to replicate this:

26 min: Hendrick is booked for a cynical clip on Boufal’s heel. From the resulting free kick, Ward-Prowse slips Boufal into space down the left. Boufal curls a cross onto the head of Stephens, who rattles the crossbar with a fine header. Burnley escape. This is great to-and-fro entertainment, despite, or perhaps because of, the conditions.

24 min: Saints have done very well to work their way back into this match after that ridiculous start. Especially when you consider what happened to them the last time they played at St Mary’s in a tempest. That Leicester City game must have crossed their minds, albeit briefly. Top marks for mental fortitude.

21 min: Burnley get the game going again, and nearly regain the lead immediately. Bardsley pearls a low diagonal shot from distance on the right. The lurking Rodriguez sticks out a boot, but can’t guide it into the bottom left. The ball flies inches wide.

20 min: The game hasn’t restarted yet, because Wood is down clutching his hamstring. Up he gets, and off he goes, shaking his head. He won’t take any further part in this.

Danny Ings makes up for his role in Burnley’s goal! And how. He snatches onto a loose ball, on the edge of the Burnley D. He shifts it right, taking three Burnley defenders out of the game, and curls a stunning shot into the bottom corner. That’s a delightful finish, the shot set outside the post and curled back in, leaving Pope with no chance.

16 min: Vestergaard is caught faffing around 25 yards from his own goal by Hendrick. Rodriguez nearly makes off with the ball, but loses control. Vestergaard is booked for following through while being robbed by Hendrick.

14 min: The wind is picking up. That’s quite the state of affairs, given that Hojbjerg took a shot earlier that basically took a u-turn in mid-air. This could get interesting.

12 min: A free kick for Burnley out on the right. Hendrick sends a big diagonal towards Tarkowski, who brings the ball down with a deft touch. He’s in space, but slams his cross into the first man. A waste, because Saints’ high line had been busted open and the home defence was all over the shop.

11 min: Burnley’s goal was timed at one minute and 35 seconds. According to BT Sport, it’s their fastest start in an away match in the Premier League. The statistician earning their corn with that one.

9 min: The set piece comes to nothing. But Long’s soon skedaddling down the inside-left channel to win another corner for Saints. That’s a bit of a non-event as well, but this is a decent response to falling behind in farcical circumstances from the home side.

7 min: Armstrong has a dig from 25 yards, just to the right of centre. Tarkowski sticks out a leg to divert away for a corner, Southampton’s first of the match.

5 min: Saints try to hit back quickly, Boufal looping a cross from the right towards Long at the far post. Long heads back across goal, but with Pope out of position, there’s nobody there to poke home.

4 min: What a bizarre cock-up. I have no idea what Ings was doing. A deliberate decision to let the ball past. Did McCarthy give him a shout to leave it. A bum steer? It’s one explanation.

It won’t be easy for Saints, that is. Wood powers his way down the left and wins the first corner of the game. Westwood takes, and curls it towards the near post. Ings is guarding, but decides the ball is hitting the side netting. It’s not, though. Ings opts to let the ball through. In it curls, direct from the corner. Ings puts his head in his hands, as well he might. What a fiasco, and he can’t blame the wind. A huge misjudgement.

And we’re off! Saints get the party started. The conditions are appalling, it’s tipping down, and the wind’s up. The ball is immediately hoicked into the stand. That may or may not be a sign of things to come. It won’t be easy.

The teams are out! Saints are in their famous red and white stripes, while Burnley sport their third-choice evergreen. We’ll be off in a minute. Meanwhile, speaking of jazz-fusion bassist Alphonso Johnson, as we were, sort of, at 12.08pm: “OMG! That is so weird!” begins

Derek Smalls
Colin Young. “I have had that image of Weather Report’s Mysterious Traveller LP cover as my computer desktop image for as long as I have had a computer. Never seen it anywhere else. Nobody I know knows what it is … so obviously it has to turn up on the Guardian’s football blog for a Saints vs Burnley game. Clearly. But I do agree, ‘Cucumber Slumber’ I mean that bassline, it, erm, blows away (sorry) most other basslines in the world. So obviously this game is going to be a breeze.”

The managers have their say. First up, Ralph Hasenhuttl: “Nathan Redmond has a muscle injury. It’s hard to say how long he will be out. But this is a chance for other players to show up. This is an important game. We lost the first game 3-0 so we want to show we’re better now.”

And then Sean Dyche: “We will find out a bit more about Matt Lowton’s knee injury later this week. But the good news is Charlie Taylor is back from a niggling hamstring. It’s not easy to knock out wins all the time, you’re going to have spells, and it’s about how you come out of them. And we have come out with an edge to our performances, with a little x-factor.”

Weather report:

That is some bassline. In other news, Storm Dennis has arrived on the south coast, and my oh my it’s a good old blow. So the wind and the rain may play some part this afternoon. This could be a jazz odyssey.

Saints make four changes to the side that went down bravely at Spurs a couple of weeks ago. Alex McCarthy replaces Angus Gunn in goal. Kyle Walker-Peters makes his debut at right back. Jannik Vestergaard and Stuart Armstrong return. Missing out: Jan Bednarek, Oriol Romeu and Nathan Redmond.

Burnley make just the one change to the XI named for the goalless draw with Arsenal. Matt Lowton is replaced by Phil Bardsley.

Southampton: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Stephens, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Boufal, Long, Ings.
Subs: Adams, Djenepo, Romeu, Obafemi, Smallbone, Gunn, Bednarek.

Burnley: Pope, Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Hendrick, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Rodriguez, Wood.
Subs: Brownhill, Brady, Hart, Pieters, Lennon, Vydra, Long.

Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).

Saints and Burnley don’t put on a show when they get together that often. Their last six meetings have produced a grand total of nine goals, and three of those came in a lopsided 3-0 win for Burnley on the opening day of this season. Needless to say, the goalscorers in that one, Ashley Barnes and Johann Berg Gudmundsson, are missing today.

There’s not a whole load riding on this game, either. It’s true that neither side is totally safe from relegation worry. But it’s also surely the case that, relatively comfy in mid-table and seven clear of the drop zone, both sides are far too good to be seriously concerned about their fate. Saints deserved far more than the square root of eff all they got from recent visits to Anfield and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Burnley have recently won at Old Trafford. So there’s little jeopardy in this.

What I’m doing here, brazenly, dear reader, is tempting fate. If this low-energy preamble doesn’t earn us a rollocking seven-goal thriller, nothing will. Come on, footballing gods, teach the MBM some humility. It’s on!

Kick off: 12.30pm.