I said in the preview that sometimes something has to break the circle when you are in a bad run, that seemed to have happened yesterday at St Mary's.

When you are on a bad run you need something to break the circle that just seems to keep looping round, after four straight league defeats Saints were in desperate need for that something to happen.

Was it the late Shane Long winner against Norwich in midweek ? or was it the departure of Jose Fonte ? or perhaps a combination of both !

Whatever it was Saints looked a different team than the ones in previous matches and this was probably helped by the fact that although there were large scale changes from that Norwich cup win, Claude Puel had put out just about his strongest side, yes perhaps you would argue the toss about one or two positions, but that would always be the case, but given what was available this was a well set up line up.

The team seemed to ave a different spirit about it, it played with energy and it played with confidence and it put in what was the best performance of the season.

We dominated from start to finish and took our chances well, indeed we could easily have had two more and really made it a rout for a Leicester side who looked more like the relegation candidates of two seasons ago than the Champions of last.

But that should not take anything away from Saints and there was always the threat that Leicester could mount a fightback as they did at Stoke a few weeks ago.

But you sensed that would not happen, each player seemed to have a determination missing in recent games and from the moment that James Ward Prowse swept the ball home in the 26th minute it was Saints in the driving seat.

Ward Prowse had probably his best game for Saints, it wasn't just the goal, but the way he ran the midfield and brought the other around him into play, he had the hard working Romeu alongside him and Hojbjerg who although initially not having a great time of it, made his performance good by a willingness to work hard and retrieve any mistakes.

Indeed Saints had a free flowing style missing for most of the season, they have been accused of not being entertaining, but that could not be levelled in this game, it was about attack and the two full backs constantly surged forward to put in crosses.

Six minutes before the break and Jay Rodriguez showed that he can get back to his best form crashing in a volley from a tight angle appearing at the back post when the visitors defenders thought the ball had passed by them safely.

Now Saints were in command and were not going to let it go.

In the second half they could have doubled their lead, they thought they had a third when Wes Morgan headed into his own net but this was ruled offside, TV replays showed that the linesman got it right, but it was as tight a call as you could get.

Pierre Emile Hojbjerg should have scored when he read a poor ball superbly and went through on goal but skewed his shot wide.

They did get three when Shane Long burst through and was bundled over, Tadic despatching the penalty with aplomb and Long almost got his name on the scoresheet with what would have been virtually the last kick of the game if he had connected with a great cross that dissected the keeper and his defence.

But it was to be only three but Saints could leave the pitch with their spirit and confidence high before the trip to Anfield on Wednesday, they had dominated in all areas, and looked in good shape with a display that perhaps only the win over West Ham back in September could match.

Only downside was the injury to Virgil Van Dijk, Albert Steptoe signed by Leicester from Oil Drum Lane Vets in the Wormwood Scrubs league making his only meaningful contact of the game with not the ball but Van Dijk.

The Dutchman tried to continue but was in pain, it looked like an impact injury rather than ligament damage though and hopefuly Van Dijk gong off was as much precaution ahead of the League Cup semi as neccessary.

But Van Dijk was able to walk normally off the pitch without any help and didn't appear to even be limping and that has to be a good sign.

This was the day when Saints clicked into gear again, the first win of an important week, the hope is that by the end of it this season will have caught alight.

Photo: Action Images

TeamCortese added 21:08 - Jan 23 Great result!!! Glad we're back to winning ways. JWP did well and needs to perform like he did yesterday on a more consistent basis. For all his hype there's been very little to show for it. Bring on Liverpool! #COYR
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arthurfane added 09:17 - Jan 24 Completely agree SaintBrock - Cedric has been another level these last few months. Best RB in the league might be a little OTT, but he's certainly a country mile better than Cuco. Bertrand and Cedric so key to Saints when we play well :)
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