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Southampton picked up back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since April 2017 as they beat fellow strugglers Huddersfield Town 3-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday, and midfielder Stuart Armstrong was one of the low-key stars of the show.
The Scotland international has endured an up-and-down start to his Saints career following his summer move from Celtic, impressing during pre-season and starting the opening day encounter against Burnley, before quickly finding himself out of favour when Mark Hughes chose to change formations.
However, he has been more of a regular fixture in the starting XI in recent weeks, and he has got the nod in all three of new manager Ralph Hasenhuttl’s matches in charge so far.
The 26-year-old once again played in an advanced position on the left in Yorkshire – although he, Danny Ings and Nathan Redmond all interchange – and while he failed to get on the score-sheet and they both did, his statistics from the game were impressive.
It may have been that Armstrong was anonymous at times during yet another tireless display, but he produced three successful dribbles and four key passes in his 69 minutes on the pitch, while he showed his defensive nous and work-rate by making one tackle and one clearance, as per WhoScored.
While he failed to have a single shot – something Hasenhuttl may not be too concerned about having seen the goals he produced against Fulham and Manchester United in recent weeks – he did produce three accurate long balls from the three he attempted.
The Scot is someone that may take a bit more time to get used to the Austrian manager’s demands on the pitch, but in general he looks to be perfectly suited to the 51-year-old’s style of play and the ex-RB Leipzig coach will surely be in dreamland that he has Armstrong at his disposal as he looks to push Southampton up the Premier League table.
Check out the video below for Emma Conybeare’s rundown of which clubs need what in the January transfer window…