Che Adams scored twice as Southampton beat Preston 3-0, closing the gap on the top three in the Championship.
A classy strike from Stuart Armstrong set up a double for Adams, all but ending the game by half-time and effectively ending Preston's hopes of making the play-offs.
The win leaves Saints four points behind second-placed Leicester, and the two teams will face each other at the King Power Stadium next Tuesday.
The race for automatic promotion from the Championship is now a four-way battle as the top three teams are all struggling, with Southampton having won five and drawn two of their last eight games and will face third-placed Leeds on the final day. It has become.
Southampton looked unlikely to progress when they lost to Ipswich on Easter Monday, but since then Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds have all found themselves in difficult situations, meaning they have 10 points from four games. Obtained.
This game has been reorganized since last month. Fire near St Mary's Stadium Preston, who were forced to postpone and lost a crucial game at home to Norwich on Saturday, were on the back foot from the start.
Southampton were forced to make changes to their squad after goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu came off the bench with an Achilles tendon injury during the warm-up, but manager Russell Martin decided to replace Joe Lumley, who was named on the bench. , mysteriously decided to go with veteran third choice Alex McCarthy. start.
The game was one-sided from the moment Saints' quick pass found Preston on the right and Adam Armstrong's cross found his strike partner Adams for the lead, his 100th career goal. There was little change in that.
Ten minutes later, Southampton pulled away from the Lilywhites again, making it 2-0. Adams dummyed Ryan Manning's pass, ran into David Brooks' split-second pass and fired a second past Preston goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
Adam Armstrong and Adams almost took Woodman off the line with a long-range shot when Preston fell apart, but the shot bounced into the roof of the net.
Duane Holmes came close to conceding a penalty by tripping Ryan Manning in a brutal game against Stuart Armstrong, but he was also at fault for the decisive third goal.
His weak clearance found its way to Stuart Armstrong 20 yards out, who fired an elegant shot into the bottom corner.
Holmes was substituted as Rowe tried to stem the tide, but Stuart Armstrong hit the post as the one-way traffic continued.
Martin made a number of changes ahead of Saturday's trip to Cardiff and Southampton improved in the second half, but only a fine save from Woodman denied Adams a hat-trick and prevented Brooks from adding to his tally.
lineup
southampton
formation 4-3-3
- 1mccarthy
- 2walker peters
- twenty oneHarwood Bellis
- 35Bednarek
- 3Manning
- 7AriboReplacementsmall bonein 70 minutesminutes
- FourdownsReplacementcharlesin 45 minutesminutes
- 17S. ArmstrongReplacementRothwellin 70 minutesminutes
- 36brooksReplacementSlemanain 83 minutesminutes
- TenadamsReplacementEdzierin 76 minutesminutes
- 9Armstrong
substitute
- Fivestevens
- 13Lumley
- 14Bree
- 16small bone
- 19Rothwell
- 20Slemana
- twenty threeEdzier
- twenty fourcharles
- 26fraser
Preston
formation 3-4-1-2
- 1lumberjack
- 14number of floors
- 6lindsay
- 16fuse
- twenty fiveholmesI made a reservation for 23 minutes.Replacementcunninghamin 39 minutesminutes
- 26Oh my godReplacementLedsonin 71 minutesminutes
- 35MaweneBooked in 1 minuteReplacementBrownin 70 minutesminutes
- 11brady
- TenFrogger Jensen
- 19leaseReplacementKeenein 45 minutesminutes
- 28osmagicReplacementevansin 79 minutesminutes
substitute
- 3cunningham
- 7Keene
- 8Brown
- 9evans
- 17stewart
- 18Ledson
- twenty onecornell
- 33the best
- 36Seary
- Referee:
- Samuel Barrott
- Attendance:
- 27,636
live text
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Game over, Southampton 3, Preston North End 0.
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Half-time, Southampton 3, Preston North End 0.
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Attempt blocked. Ryan Manning (Southampton)'s left-footed shot from the center of the box was blocked. Assisted by Samuel Edsey.
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Samuel Edsey (Southampton) wins a free kick on the left.
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Foul by Ryan Redson (Preston North End).
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Foul by Ryan Manning (Southampton).
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Alan Brown (Preston North End) wins a free kick in defence.
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Ryan Manning (Southampton) wins a free kick in defence.
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Foul by Will Keane (Preston North End).
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Foul by Ryan Manning (Southampton).
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Robert Brady (Preston North End) wins a free kick in defence.
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Substitute, Southampton. Kamarudeen Slemana replaces David Brooks.
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Attempt failed. Joe Rothwell (Southampton) took a right-footed shot from outside the box from a direct free kick that was too high.
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David Brooks (Southampton) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Foul by Ryan Redson (Preston North End).
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Substituted, Preston North End. Ched Evans replaces Milutin Osmajic.
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Substitute, Southampton. Chez Adams was replaced by Samuel Edsey.
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Attempt failed. Ryan Manning (Southampton) took a left-footed shot from outside the box, but it missed the left side of the frame. David Brooks assists from a corner kick.
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Attempt saved. David Brooks (Southampton) took a right-footed shot from the center of the box, but it was saved over the center of the goal.
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Southampton corner. Freddie Woodman concedes.