A clash of the Premier League's bottom two concluded in a tense 1-0 win for West Ham, moving the hosts dramatically up the table from 19th all the way up to 14th place.
Nayef Aguerd's precise header after Thilo Kehrer's fantastic deep free-kick delivery, following one of the most uneventful opening 25 minutes of any game this season, was the only goal of the Sunday afternoon kick-off.
The three points bring about huge relief for the Hammers, as even though they remain just one point above the relegation zone, the table looks a lot better for them now that it did prior to kick-off.
On the other hand, Southampton remain rooted to the bottom spot, with Ruben Selles' team facing both of the Premier League's top two – Arsenal and Manchester City – within their next three fixtures.
Here are some of the main takeaways from this afternoon's game:
All-round Paqueta proves his worth
Since his €43 million summer move to West Ham from Lyon, Lucas Paqueta's few goalscoring involvements may suggest that he has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League.
Expecting goals, assists and just generally creative, eye-catching play within the attacking third is quite common for what many perceived to be a traditional Brazilian attacking midfielder.
However, Paqueta is capable of offering his team much more than just that. Today's game saw the 25-year-old complete 11 tackles, with his average position being deeper than Tomas Soucek's – his midfield partner.
Paqueta's contributions all around the pitch, on and off the ball, are impressive enough to suggest that the serious money West Ham have spent on the midfielder was justified and in the context of it being the Brazilian international's first season in the Premier League, he has performed to a strong level this campaign.
With plenty of work still to do to ensure the Hammers' Premier League safety and, just as importantly, a potential UEFA Europa Conference League trophy, Paqueta will be a crucial man for West Ham in the run-in.
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Hammers' home momentum developing
Today's result extended West Ham's unbeaten home run to six consecutive games across all competitions (4W, 2D).
League wins against Everton and Nottingham Forest, along with draws against Chelsea and Aston Villa preceded this afternoon's triumph, with a comfortable dismantling of AEK Larnaca in the UECL Round of 16 also making up their impressive recent record.
When looking at their Premier League campaign as a whole, 21 points from their 14 games at London Stadium, while not a remarkable output, is a respectable one.
It is on the road where David Moyes' team has struggled the most – six points picked up from just one less game played – the joint-lowest total in the division.
In the situation that the Hammers find themselves in, maintaining their positive home form should be sufficient for them to achieve their existing goal – Premier League survival.
However, with their next four home league fixtures featuring the visits of Newcastle, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, that will not be an easy task, so it will be important for them to strike a balance between home and away performances from now.
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Saints – the relegation favourites
Albeit with West Ham's meteoric rise up the table effectively showcasing the tightness of the bottom part of the Premier League, Southampton are standing out to the bookies as the strong favourites for relegation, being priced at considerably lower odds compared to the likes of Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Everton and company.
Having played one game more than most of the teams around them and with a lot of fairly daunting fixtures still to come within their last nine games, it seems as if the Saints' 11th consecutive season in the top-flight is likely to be the last of that streak.
A shock win at Stamford Bridge and another big result against Leicester shortly after was followed up by two credible draws against Manchester United and Tottenham, with just a couple of defeats thrown into the mix during what had been a decent run.
However, today's result and performance squashes some of the positives of the last few rounds. With the Saints suffering defeat against a direct relegation-threatened rival – in a battle between 19th and 20th place – the frustration will be strongly felt amongst the club's fanbase.
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Youth-focused recruitment showing negative effects
Seasons between 2013-2017 now seem a long time away for the club – the years of four consecutive seasons of top-eight finishes in the Premier League.
Even then, under the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and Claude Puel, Southampton had always boasted a young, promising side, in which the likes of Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Dusan Tadic and Victor Wanyama were regular features.
Other than academy product, James Ward-Prowse, Southampton have been unable to, or just unwilling to, hold on to any of those and other top talents.
It seems that now, with the rest of the Premier League progressively spending more and more money on better and better, developed players, Southampton's strategy of focusing on youth is becoming unsustainable in the terms of Premier League survival.
This season, the signings of Kamaldeen Sulemana, Gavin Bazunu, Carlos Alcaraz, Sekou Mara, Romeo Lavia, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Samuel Edozieand Juan Larios – all aged 20 or under – have cost the Saints €103 million. While most of these seem like wise investments and profitable signings for the future, in the present, no improvement to the team's strongest XI has been made.
The club's sustainable business model can be considered a positive, but it is being over-powered by the financial muscle the rest of the Premier League clubs are willing to flex.
