Rice secures draw for West Ham at Southampton after Perraud’s opener

If Ralph Hasenhüttl felt like the most vulnerable manager in the Premier League before kick off – other than perhaps Brendan Rodgers and Steven Gerrard – this result will do little to shield him.

Southampton came into this game in dismal form: four defeats on the bounce, combined with Wolves’ 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, ensured they started the day in the bottom three. West Ham, meanwhile, arrived at St Mary’s with ominous momentum behind them after four wins in a row in all competitions. Were it not for their wasteful finishing, they would have made it five here.

Hasenhüttl largely stuck with the same side which was left chasing luxurious shadows at the Etihad last weekend, presumably because losing 4-0 to Manchester City elicits little more than a rueful shrug from most managers these days. Ibrahima Diallo and Stuart Armstrong made way for Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elyounoussi but, otherwise, Southampton were unchanged.

With Kurt Zouma and Craig Dawson unavailable, David Moyes was forced into a more extensive reshuffle. He made five changes to the team which beat Anderlecht in midweek, Lukasz Fabianksi returning in goal, Thilo Kehrer coming into the defence, Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek resuming double pivot duties and Gianluca Scamacca replacing Saïd Benrahma in the forward line.

Things were fairly even in the opening stages. Emerson sent a shot whistling wide of the post early on, before a spell of pressure from the hosts ended with Che Adams scuffing one into the waiting arms of Fabianski. West Ham had another half-chance when Lucas Paquetá picked out Jarrod Bowen with a searching cross, but his teammate failed to direct his header goalwards. Other than that it was a messy start, all