The last two years might not have seen Wolves match their dizzy heights of 2018 and 2019, where they recorded back-to-back seventh placed finishes and reached a Europa League quarter-final, but they have been 24 months of success when it comes to facing off against the side from the south coast.
Wolves.co.uk has taken a look back at our Premier League history against the Saints and highlighted where things have gone right for the old gold in their recent meetings.
Premier League record vs Southampton
- Wins | 7
- Draws | 2
- Losses | 4
It didn’t start off all to well for Wolves in their first ever season in the Premier League back in 2003/04. Having ended a 19-year absence from the top-flight, Dave Jones led the men in gold and black back to the highest tier of English football through the Division One play-offs, but their time in the league was short-lived, as Wolves were relegated after just one season.
During that year, Wolves faced Southampton twice, and both games ended in defeat. A first league trip to St Mary’s Stadium saw James Beattie achieve a brace to secure the hosts with a 2-0 win, while back at Molineux in the March of 2004 it was a much tighter affair – until the final few minutes. Henri Camara had halved the deficit on 72 minutes after Saints had earned a two-goal lead, but Kevin Phillips (so often the thorn in Wolves’ side) struck twice for the visitors.
With Saints flirting with the third tier when Wolves were back in the Premier League under Mick McCarthy, the teams had to wait until September 2018 to get another chance of going head-to-head in the top-flight once more, and the old gold finally got the win they were waiting for. Heading into the final 15 minutes scoreless, Ivan Cavaleiro hopped off the bench to put his side ahead before Jonny scored his first goal for the club just minutes before the full-time whistle went.
However, Saints got their own back later that season, earning a 3-1 win at St Mary’s having gone ahead after just two minutes through Nathan Redmond. Despite Willy Boly’s equaliser, Redmond struck again moments later before Shane Long added a third in the second-half. The 2019/20 season saw with the sides play out a 1-1 draw at Molineux in mid-October – in which a Raul Jimenez penalty cancelled out a Danny Ings strike, before Wolves earned a thrilling three points on the road in January 2020.
Finding themselves 2-0 down at the break, Wolves tuned the game around in stunning fashion. Firstly, Pedro Neto latched onto Adama Traore’s pass to send his side level, before another Jimenez penalty evened the game up. But it was the link-up that served Wolves so well that season which earned them all three points as Traore picked out Jimenez to fire home the winner.
Back at Molineux for the first game of the 2020/21 season, and it was another 1-1 draw between the teams. Once again Southampton took the lead, this time through Theo Walcott’s right-footed effort, but Neto was in the right place at the right time to earn his side a point behind closed doors.
Five-game winning run
#1 | 14th February 2021 | Southampton 1-2 Wolves
Three days after Saints had dumped Wolves out of the FA Cup at Molineux – in which Danny Ings and Stuart Armstrong had found the back of the net – the teams went head-to-head once again, but this time 160 miles away on the south coast.
With Nuno Espirito Santo at the helm, Wolves were set up in the 3-4-3 formation a Nuno team had been accustomed to, but with Raul Jimenez – who was always the man relied upon when a goal was needed against the Saints – on the road to recovery following his horrific fractured skull injury, the visitors were lacking a focal point.
Danny Ings found the net with an incredible volley midway through the first-half during a game which saw Wolves struggle to muster much to keep their 3,000-strong travelling support entertained. But in scenes almost identical to 12 months previously, Nuno’s side came out of the break a different team.
It took just eight minutes of play for Wolves to equalise. Having upped their pressure, pressing high and getting the ball into the final third, their performance got immediate rewards as Nelson Semedo’s shot was blocked by the arm of Ryan Bertrand. Ruben Neves stepped up to the spot and fired the ball high into the net.
The turnaround was complete just ten minutes later thanks to a piece of magic from the boots of Neto. Having found space on the right, the forward left Jannik Vestergaard in his wake as he turned and twisted his way past the defender and used his pace to bare down one-on-one on McCarthy, and with his left foot, curled an unstoppable shot inside the far post. The result lifted Wolves up to 12th in the Premier League table and above their opponents.
#2 | 26th September 2021 | Southampton 0-1 Wolves
Now under the leadership of Bruno Lage, Wolves were on the hunt for a second Premier League win of the 2021/22 season as they headed down to St Mary’s. With Jimenez back in the attack, the Mexican was the one to prove the difference in the two teams.
After a first-half which was one of chances few and far between – with both Wolves and Southampton looking like teams who were low on confidence – the best of those chances fell to Hee Chan Hwang who struck the crossbar on his first Premier League start for the gold and black.
The Korean and Leander Dendoncker both saw efforts blocked in the opening stages of the second period before the deadlock was finally broken on the hour mark.
Moments after Jose Sa had made a good block with his legs to deny Valentino Livramento, before producing a great double block to stop Che Adams from putting Saints ahead, the goalkeeper was instrumental in the opening goal. His long ball up the pitch found Jimenez, who turned one player, left a second Southampton man on the floor, before calmly slotted a shot beneath Alex McCarthy to open his account for the season.
#3 | 15th January 2022 | Wolves 3-1 Southampton
In the middle of a January in which Wolves looked like they could be making a push for a finish in the European places, Southampton were the visitors to Molineux and almost offered up a late scare for Lage’s men.
The hosts were dominant for much of the clash and having not tasted defeat since mid-December, confidence was high in the squad as well as in the stands, however it was the visitors who started on top. Having survived an early barrage of Saints attacks, Wolves pressed to find the opener and after Rayan Ait-Nouri was taken out in the penalty box by Jan Bednarek, VAR intervened and awarded a penalty – after a fairly length decision making delay. Up stepped Jimenez to send Fraser Forster the wrong way.
After an early penalty shout was waved away for the visitors, Wolves began to re-assert their dominance, as Joao Moutinho’s free-kick was headed across goal by Dendoncker, for Coady to tuck home from a matter of yards – but the goal was ruled out for an offside against the Belgian in the build-up. But the skipper wasn’t to be denied just minutes later, as this time Kilman looped a header over Forster which came back off the post before Coady headed into an empty net.
Wolves were handed a scare as James Ward-Prowse fired an unstoppable free-kick past Jose Sa from 40 yards, but Traore came to Wolves’ rescue when he squared up Mohammed Salisu, beat the Saints defender down the left and slotted the ball under Forster to secure the three points.
#4 | 3rd September 2022 | Wolves 1-0 Southampton
Wolves’ first win of the current season was against Southampton in early September. Having drawn three of their opening five matches, Lage’s side hosted Saints at Molineux in a contest which will not go down as one to remember in the history books.
With neither Wolves nor Southampton having got their campaigns off to positive starts, a battle between two teams struggling for goals and points eventually saw the hosts come out on top.
If either team were going to break the deadlock in the early stages, it was going to come from a set-piece, as Armel Bella-Kotchap headed a Ward-Prowse delivery wide before Sasa Kalajdzic headed a chance off target for Wolves on his debut. But it was the best move of the game which saw Wolves score the only goal of the game.
A passage of play which started with Jonny, saw the Spaniard spread possession to Neves, who fed Neto. The winger quickly set Matheus Nunes clear down the left, and it was his first-time ball which found countryman Daniel Podence, whose mis-hit shot/cross – which was looking for Kalajdzic wrongfooted Gavin Bazunu in the Saints goal and ended up lopping into the back of the net.
Kalajzic’s dream debut became a nightmare at half-time as the Austrian had to be taken off at the break, with an ACL injury which signalled the end of his first season at Wolves having played just 45 minutes of football.
#5 | 11th February 2023 | Southampton 2-1 Wolves
Just four days ago, Wolves achieved a feat they have never reached before in their nine years of playing Premier League football, of beating the same opposition in five consecutive matches.
But if there’s one thing you can almost guarantee from Wolves when facing Southampton at St Mary’s is a stunning comeback – but not many would have been able to script a dramatic finish as we saw on Saturday afternoon.
The first 45 minutes saw Wolves not only fall a goal behind after Carlos Alcaraz turned the ball past Sa from the edge of the box at the second attempt, but also a man, with Mario Lemina controversially being dismissed having been shown a second yellow card for running aggressively towards the referee who was already in conversation with the Gabonese’s fellow midfielders Neves and Moutinho.
Having already made a name for himself as a man who can turn games in his side’s favour with his substitutions during his short spell in charge of Wolves, Julen Lopetegui was at it again on the south coast, as he brought Adama Traore and Hugo Bueno off the bench at the break.
The longer the game went on with Southampton not adding a second – which they were indebted to Sa’s heroic dive to stop Kamaldeen Sulemana when he found himself one-on-one with the keeper – Wolves grew in confidence, knowing a single goal could turn the game on its head.
With rumblings beginning to come from the discontented Saints support in the stands and the introduction of Diego Costa and Joao Gomes – on for his old gold debut – Wolves turned the screw with just 20 minutes remaining. Costa’s shot was blocked inside the area, but the ball fell to Traore whose shot at goal was somehow not dealt with by Bednarek and he inadvertently turned the ball over his own goalline.
With just minutes remaining on the clock, it was then Gomes’ turn to make the immediate impact which the Brazilian has dreamt about ever since word of his move from Flamengo became a reality. The midfielder picked up the ball on the edge of the Saints box and after his initial shot was blocked, the 21-year-old was first to the rebound and produced a composed right-footed finish into the top corner to send the away support home happy.
