Southampton put in one of their best performances of the season as they beat Preston North End 3-0 on Tuesday night.
The fixture was one of Southampton‘s games in hand, having previously being postponed due to a fire in close proximity to St Mary’s Stadium.
Russell Martin watched on delighted as his team were completely dominant from start to finish. They registered an enormous 77.7% possession according to Sky Sports and never looking troubled by potentially tricky opponents.
Che Adams continued his hot streak in front of goal with a fine brace, before Stuart Armstrong capped a brilliant display to put the Saints three goals ahead after 33 minutes.
First choice goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu pulled out of the side through an injury sustained in the warm up and Joe Lumley was overlooked as Alex McCarthy stepped into the side. This despite McCarthy not being named in the initial squad.
This change happening so close to kick-off had the potential to really disrupt Southampton, but the home side limited Preston to just one shot on target to give McCarthy a quiet night in his first league appearance of the campaign.
Bazunu was not the only injury scare from the game, though, with Flynn Downes substituted at half-time.
It was widely thought that this was merely Martin taking the opportunity to give one of his star players a rest given the control Southampton had in the game and the fact the 25-year-old will be crucial for what remains of the season.
However, after the game Martin revealed that Downes picked up a knock, but the performance of his replacement was incredibly reassuring for the Saints boss.
Shea Charles ready to step in if Flynn Downes absent
That man was Shea Charles, with the 20-year-old impressing despite having not even made the squad in the previous game.
The Northern Ireland international featured heavily at the beginning of the season but has found minutes harder to come by as the season has gone on.
Given how influential Downes is at the base of the Southampton midfield, fans would unanimously have been hoping the half-time change was nothing to worry about.
Martin confirmed the decision was not purely with future games in mind, as he confirmed to the Daily Echo: “I think he (Downes) took a little bit of a knock”.
The manager was then quick to single out his replacement for praise, as he said: “There’s just no point in risking anything with him right now. He’s been such an important player. Shea Charles was great when he came on.
“I thought the subs were all good. They had a really good impact on the game, but Shea, coming on at half-time, was really good.
“Kept the ball ticking, won it a lot, intercepted a lot, made contact with people. He’s a really good player. He’s just been unfortunate.”
Charles is clearly a very talented player and his versatility makes him a really useful member of the squad.
It is easy to forget that this is just his first season in senior football and Martin was quick to point out why the former Manchester City man has had a hard time getting into the side.
Martin said: “He’s playing behind, as I’ve said to you so many times, the best one. But now we know he can do it.
“Flynn, hopefully, will be fit for Saturday. I’m sure he will – but if not, we have a really brilliant player to step in.”
Charles’ impressive statistics v Preston
This was arguably Charles’ most composed display since making the £10.5 million move to Southampton last summer.
Constantly available to his teammates, it appears the youngster has really benefitted from acting as Downes’ understudy and learning from the West Ham United loanee.
Despite playing just 45 minutes against Preston, Charles recorded 59 touches and completed 89% of his 53 passes according to Sofascore.
This was actually 15 more touches than Downes managed (44) in the same number of minutes, with Downes edging the pass accuracy by one percent (90%).
To effectively match Downes’ pass accuracy and better his number of touches shows just how impressive Charles was on Tuesday night.
Whilst it should be caveated that Southampton were already 3-0 up and completely comfortable when Charles entered proceedings, he kept the side ticking in a way we haven’t seen from him previously.
No fan will want Downes to miss any football across the next few weeks, but they should take confidence that Southampton could cope with his absence after Charles’ display in the Preston victory.