Southampton Left Frustrated by Stubborn Swansea in Scoreless Draw
Southampton failed to take advantage of their dominance in their season opening game against Swansea and were forced to settle with a point after a 0-0 draw.
Despite having 28 attempts, the Saints only hit the target twice and continued their poor form at St. Mary's.
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The first chance of the game came in the first 90 seconds when Manolo Gabbiadini got on the end of a Ryan Bertrand corner but could only manage clip the top of the crossbar with his header.
Swansea were very lucky to be on level terms in the third minute as Ryan Bertrand continued to cause massive problems for Swansea, this time making a great overlapping run and delivering a superb driven cross that found Dusan Tadic in the six yard box, but the Serbian couldn't capitalise on the opportunity and missed the target.
Swansea's first chance came in the 9th minute and fell to Tammy Abraham. The Swansea forward was picked out by Wayne Routledge but the 21 year old Chelsea Loanee headed his chance just wide of the Fraser Forster's near post.
The 19th minute saw Southampton create yet another big chance, with Tadic and Nathan Redmond linking up brilliantly on the left wing and Redmond cutting the ball back for James Ward-Prowse, but Swansea Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski managed to turn the deflected effort over the bar.
The Saints had a claim for a penalty soon after, when a rash looking challenge from Swansea defender Federico Fernandez took Tadic off his feet, but referee Mike Jones didn't see anything wrong and waved play on.
The teams were level going into the half time break, but the home team would have been frustrated that they had not converted one of their chances.
The first chance of the second half came just a minute after the restart, when Tammy Abraham's brilliant turn in the Southampton box gave him time to get a shot off, but his effort was blocked by Saints right back Cedric.
Southampton dominated for the next 15 minutes, but still could not break the deadlock, with a half chance for Gabbiadini being the closest that the home team had been to scoring. The Italian striker found space in the box, but could not find the right amount of curl to find the back of the net, and his effort drifted wide of the far post.
The best chance of the game fell to to Southampton centre back Maya Yoshida in the 79th minute. The Japanese international got onto the end of an Oriol Romeu flick on, but couldn't hit the target from four yards out with a free header.
Southampton continued to pile on the pressure but could not find the back of the net and even with the introductions of Charlie Austin and Sofiane Boufal, Swansea managed to hold on and earn a precious away point that could be valuable when it comes to the end of the season.
