Summary:

• Palace unchanged from thumping win at Leeds
• Eagles begin brightly with Doucouré volleying over
• Aribo misses set-piece opportunity early for the hosts
• Olise runs through and scores, but is flagged offside
• Hosts grow into the game but Palace defend stoutly
• Clear opportunities lacking in stop-start first-half
• HT: Southampton 0-0 Palace
• Eze pounces from close range to put Palace ahead after half-time
• No. 10 then smashes in a low effort from range to double the lead
• Alcaraz curls onto the post as Southampton looked to respond immediately
• Johnstone forced into flying save from Bella-Kotchap long-ranger
• Ayew fires narrowly over from Olise pass
• Olise clips the post with injury-time free-kick as Palace see out their win
• FT: Southampton 0-2 Palace

Recent weeks have seen the sun shine once more on Palace’s results, with back-to-back wins and outstanding performances under the returning Roy Hodgson – and a warm day at St Mary’s Stadium started brightly on the field as well.

An unchanged starting XI began with the confidence they left on the Elland Road pitch, Jordan Ayew’s cross deflecting kindly for Cheikh Doucouré, who half-volleyed over from the edge of the box.

But as Hodgson had warned in his pre-match press conference, bottom-of-the-table Southampton also had plenty to play for, and ought to have gone ahead moments later when Joe Aribo skied a simple finish to a clever set-piece routine.

Just as they had done to Leeds United, Palace’s quick transitions were troubling the hosts at St Mary’s, with Michael Olise only narrowly mistiming his run in behind and – despite finishing coolly from Ayew’s clipped pass – was flagged offside.

Southampton grew into the half as it wore on; Joachim Andersen and Joel Ward made particularly important blocks, and Theo Walcott smashed a rising effort wide of the mark after bursting clean through.

But clear chances were at a premium in a bitty first-half where defences came out on top.

Into the second-half, and Palace once again made a bright start to proceedings, one solo run from Ebere Eze concerning Romeo Lavia so much the Saints midfielder hauled him down and took the booking.

It was a warning sign of things to come. Moments later, Eze played a fine cross-field pass to Ayew and continued his run into the box.

Such forward-thinking meant he was in the right place at the right time to tap home when Bazunu palmed, rather poorly, the ball into his path – and Palace led on the road once again.

If his first goal had a touch of fortune about it, Eze’s second, ten minutes later, had none of the sort – it was simply individual brilliance.

Little seemed on when the No. 10 controlled Doucouré's pass, back to goal, 30 yards from the net. Eze disagreed, turning and twisting between two defenders, and firing a low rocket into the bottom-left corner to send the visiting fans sprawling to celebrate.

The match had burst into life, and Southampton almost produced an immediate response when Alcaraz’s clever out-swinging strike struck the inside of the post – but thankfully bounced away.

The same player then came close with an instinctive volley inside the box, moments before Bella-Kotchap’s 30-yard long-ranger forced Sam Johnstone into a flying save – but Palace’s clean sheet remained intact.

The Eagles enjoyed further chances to make it three, with the otherwise-outstanding Ayew firing over from a promising position and Eze, Olise, Hughes and Schlupp also all driving forward to good effect.

“He’s one of our own – one Roy Hodgson!” cheered the visiting fans towards the final whistle, the manager’s side diligently defending their two-goal lead without too much cause for concern from then on.

There was even time for Palace to go close once more, with Olise winning – and then taking – a 25-yard free-kick which bent round the wall and past Gavin Bazunu in the hosts’ goal, but also off the outside of the post.

As the sun set on St Mary’s, and with it the hosts’ chances of getting back into the game, the Eze-inspired Palace, with three Premier League wins on the spin, could revel in the fact that their season only continues to hot up.

Palace: Johnstone (GK), Ward, Andersen, Guéhi (Tomkins, 90+2), Mitchell, Doucouré (Milivojevic, 85), Schlupp (Lokonga, 85), Eze, Ayew (Mateta, 90+2), Edouard (Hughes, 74), Olise

Subs: Goodman (GK), Richards, Riedewald, McArthur

Southampton: Bazunu (GK), Walker-Peters, Bella-Kotchap, Bednarek, Maitland-Niles, Lavia, Ward-Prowse, Walcott (Djenepo, 62), Sulemana (Armstrong, 80), Aribo (Onuachu, 62), Alcaraz (Edozie, 80)

Subs: McCarthy (GK), Caleta-Car, Perraud, Mara, Armstrong, Edozie, Elyounoussi