Southampton vs Sheffield United – Premier League: live score and updates

Chris Wilder received a pre-match vote of confidence from Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah at St Mary’s. And that was pretty much where his afternoon peaked.

Another game brought another defeat for Wilder’s struggling side and their wait for a first league win of the season goes on.

No team has managed to avoid relegation from the position Sheffield United find themselves in.

Nathan Redmond celebrates after scoring Southampton’s third goal against Sheffield United

Redmond produced a fine finish just minutes after coming on as a substitute 

And during a comfortable 90 minutes for Southampton there was little to suggest the Blades will be able to make history and buck that trend.

It left the words of Abdullah, who was in the stands, as the main crumb of comfort for Wilder from this trip to south coast.

He said: ‘As far as I know Chris wants to stay and we want him to stay.

‘If we get relegated, I’m set to lose big money so the decision to keep Chris is simply because I think he is the best manager to take us out of the current situation.

‘I believe in him, if he wasn’t the manager of the team I would hire him now and if the worst comes to the worst and we are relegated, I believe he is the manager to take us back quickly.

‘It’s a long season, but we will stick with Chris no matter what.’

As Wilder and Sheffield United were being taunted with chants of ‘that’s why you’re going down,’ not long after Nathan Redmond piled on the misery with Southampton’s third, and they were then being so outclassed and out-passed that the oles followed, some might have questioned the wisdom of such emphatic backing.

Yet, in some ways, it was fitting that it came at Southampton, a club who have shown the value of sticking with their manager.

When many clubs would have pulled the trigger a year ago, they persisted with Ralph Hasenhuttl and their faith has been handsomely rewarded.

From the bottom three 12 months ago, the Austrian has led them up the table and this victory lifted them up to third.

Che Adams of Southampton scores his side’s first goal past defender John Egan

Adams celebrates after breaking the deadlock in Sunday’s Premier League clash

The encouragement of their returning fans injected further intensity into Southampton’s trademark and at times furious pressing.

Sheffield United struggled to get out of their half and build-up any sustained pressure in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, despite facing a deep back-five containing the recalled Phil Jagielka, Southampton were looking to exploit was space they could find behind the visitors’ defence.

Theo Walcott and Danny Ing both thought they had managed it only to get the timings of their runs just off.

But Southampton’s confidence was growing, evidenced by Jannik Vestegaard stepping out of defence, chucking in a dummy and through ball to Ings whose attempt was snuffed out by Jagielka’s last-ditch intervention. From the resulting corner, Vestegaard headed wide.

Stuart Armstrong doubles his side’s lead in the second half with a deflected effort

Former Blade Che Adams, a striker with underrated playmaking abilities, twice displayed his vision and passing ability to release Ings and create a couple more promising situations for Southampton.

They were continuing to knock. Then came a period that summed up how things are going for Wilder’s side. In the 32nd minute they carved out their only opportunity of the half and it was a good one. Enda Stevens smashed a low cross into the box which reached an unmarked Sander Berge but he was unable to divert the ball goalwards. Two minutes later they fell behind.

James Ward-Prowse swung a free-kick into the box, Jagielka headed away when Aaron Ramsdale came to gather, Jan Bednarek kept the ball alive in the box and Adams beat Stevens to the ball, side-footing in to the net. It was far from the cleanest of connections from Adams, who scored twice in this fixture last season, but the goal and half-time lead was the least Southampton deserved.

Wilder was forced into an early second-half change when Oli McBurnie finally succumbed to one of the knocks he suffered during the first half and was replaced by another ex-Southampton striker David McGoldrick.

Armstrong celebrates after putting his side in firm control against Sheffield United

Sheffield United initially posed a greater threat after the restart than they did in the whole of the first, with Egan heading John Fleck’s corner over, though, in truth, that was not hard.

Wilder chucked on Rhian Brewster on the hour too but, once again, another positive Sheffield United move was followed by a Southampton goal two minutes later.

Stuart Armstrong traded passes with Ings and the Scottish midfielder’s shot deceived Ramsdale taking a deflection off Jagielka.

Ward-Prowse and Ings went close as Southampton pursued a third which finally arrived with seven minutes left when Redmond squeezed a shot past Ramsdale after a one-two with Oriol Romeu.

Scroll down to see how it all unfolded with Sportsmail’s live runner.