Danny Ings bagged a brace on his return as Southampton came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at St Mary’s on Tuesday evening.
Christian Benteke gave Palace an early lead before Ings and Che Adams turned the match around in the home side’s favour. Ings then grabbed his second of the game to seal the points.
Ings was passed fit to return from injury for the visit of Palace. The England frontman missed the last two Saints games after suffering a hamstring problem in the 2-1 defeat at Tottenham on April 21.
On-loan Takumi Minamino, who was ineligible for the 2-0 weekend loss at his parent club Liverpool, was also recalled by manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, with Theo Walcott and Nathan Tella dropping to the bench.
Eagles boss Roy Hodgson made three changes from Saturday’s win at relegated Sheffield United.
Scott Dann, Jairo Riedewald and Jordan Ayew were brought into the starting XI in place of benched trio Gary Cahill, Jeffrey Schlupp and Andros Townsend.
Palace went 1-0 ahead inside two minutes through Christian Benteke.
Saints failed to clear a Luka Milivojevic free-kick into the box and the ball eventually fell for Benteke to fire low through the legs of home goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Ings underlined his importance to Southampton by equalising in the 19th minute with his 11th Premier League goal of the season.
The striker controlled Nathan Redmond’s low cross from the left and then turned to find the bottom right corner from level with the penalty spot.
Penalty miss costs Palace
The Eagles squandered a golden chance to retake the lead shortly before half-time.
Redmond was penalised for bringing down Wilfried Zaha in the box but Luka Milivojevic’s spot-kick was saved by Forster.
After VAR reviewed the penalty to see if Forster had stepped off his line before making the save, play was allowed to continue.
Southampton went 2-1 in front three minutes into the second period through Che Adams.
Stuart Armstrong scuffed the ball towards the far post and the sliding Adams was on hand to divert the ball home from a tight angle.
Ings stretched Southampton’s lead to 3-1 with 15 minutes remaining.
After soaking up incessant Palace pressure, Adams played his strike partner in on goal and Ings calmly poked the ball past Eagles keeper Vicente Guaita.
