Southampton4-1Bristol City

Southampton 4-1 Bristol City

Four goals, three points and a scoreline that makes this sound considerably more relaxing than it was. Southampton beat Bristol City 4-1 at St Mary’s, with Cyle Larin scoring twice before Kuryu Matsuki and Finn Azaz settled a game that still had plenty of life in it at 2-1.

City made Saints work from the start. Daniel Peretz denied Lorent Tolaj and Jason Knight, while Keven Schlotterbeck cleared off the line after former Southampton striker Dom Ballard had lifted the ball over the goalkeeper. The visitors had chances; Southampton eventually supplied the finishing.

Larin opened the scoring in the 38th minute, taking Azaz’s pass and curling his shot into the top corner. He struck again on 61 minutes, reacting to the loose ball after James Ward-Prowse’s effort was blocked. Two chances taken by a striker who continues to make himself extremely useful.

Tolaj pulled one back five minutes later. Any thoughts of a quiet finish could be filed away until Matsuki made it 3-1 on 82 minutes from another Azaz pass. Three minutes later, Divin Mubama set up Azaz to complete the scoring.

The match statistics tell their own story: Bristol City attempted 21 shots to Southampton’s ten and had six on target to Saints’ five. A 4-1 win from that balance of chances is a result to enjoy, with enough defensive work left to keep training interesting. Saints also finished without a booking; City collected three.

Southampton’s first four home Championship fixtures have now produced four wins and 15 goals. Add the two away draws and Saints have earned 14 points from seven league matches. The four-point deduction makes the official total ten. The arithmetic remains irritating, but the points are arriving.

Wrexham away is next, on Saturday 19 September at 15:00 BST. Then come Portsmouth at home on 11 October and Norwich away on 14 October. For now, a crowd of 30,132 went home with four Southampton goals to discuss, and a useful reminder that a comfortable final score does not always require a comfortable afternoon.