Southampton 5-0 Swansea City: Russell Martin reunion ends in humiliation for abject visitors

Swansea City's reunion with former boss Russell Martin ended in abject humiliation as they were hammered by Southampton at St Mary's.

Joe Aribo gave the hosts the lead on 17 minutes, after Jerry Yates and Jamal Lowe had both spurned promising early opportunities.

Southampton, who extended their unbeaten run to 16 games with this victory, took control from that moment on, and doubled their lead after Sam Edozie pounced on a Carl Rushworth error just after the break.

Ryan Fraser then came off the bench to add gloss to the victory with a quickfire brace, before turning provider for Che Adams, who duly added a fifth.

The result hands Alan Sheehan the heaviest defeat of his interim reign, and sees Swansea drop to 17th heading into the trip to Coventry City on Friday night.

Much had been made of the sub-plots around the two men in the dugout for this one, but this was a defeat that ruthlessly exposed the clear shortcomings in this Swansea side, who are ambling along like a middle-aged office worker on a Christmas night out on Wind Street right now.

Martin's shadow clearly still looms large. His comments last week, where he seemingly pondered what might have been at SA1, clearly plucked at the heart-strings of a fanbase that's becoming increasingly disillusioned with the club's American ownership.

This performance will have only deepened those concerns.

Martin insisted he wasn't actually looking forward to this clash, cutting the figure of a jilted ex reminiscing on the good times. The feeling appears to be mutual for many Swans fans.

The dynamic feels a bit like some sort of festive rom-com. "Russell and Swansea still have feelings for each other. Why can't they just work things out?" we tearfully howl from our sofas, tucking