Southampton 2 Wolves 3 – What the stats reveal

The victory will be remembered for many years to come and, for now, let’s have a look at the stats with the help of whoscored.com – specialists in the in-depth analysis of football data.

Half-accurate Ruben

As Wolves fought back from behind, everyone in gold and black stepped up their game significantly after a drab first half.

Ruben Neves was one of those, of course, and a fair few fans felt he was one of the best performers at St Mary’s for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

His passing, though, was unusually wasteful on the south coast.

Neves, surprisingly, saw exactly half of his passes fail to find their target against the Saints.

The Portuguese attempted 50, and 25 were successful.

His percentage was not the worst for Wolves – Matt Doherty’s 44 per cent was.

However, given the talent Neves has, it is unlike him to be so inaccurate when compared to midfield partner Joao Moutinho (73 per cent) and the opposing midfielders – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and James Ward-Prowse, with 82 and 85 per cent respectively for Southampton.

By contrast too, Neves’s percentage in the previous Premier League game – a 1-1 draw with Newcastle – was 90.

Neves, it must be said, had a positive influence in the second period against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s charges.

But having also failed to get a shot off on Saturday, he will be striving for better against Liverpool on Thursday.

By the way, Shane Long – who scored the second for the home side – was the lowest in terms of passing, with just 20 per cent.

Traore trend

You had probably already guessed, but Adama Traore enjoyed the most successful dribbles of anyone on the pitch.

The Spanish speedster attempted 12, and won nine.

His prowess when running with the ball at his feet came to the fore for Wolves’ second and third goals.

Traore skipped past Jan Bednarek – who had opened the scoring for Southampton – before crossing over to Pedro Neto, whose strike began the comeback.

He then sailed down the right flank, evading five chasing red and white shirts, and set up Raul Jimenez for the winner.

Surely, there is not a more devastating dribbler in the world at the minute, let alone the league.

Relentless Raul

Having missed a couple of gilt-edged chances in the first 45 minutes, Jimenez – as Nuno alluded to post-match – refused to give up.

His five shots were the most of anyone on the pitch, and he came out with two goals to his name.

They were his 18th and 19th of the term in all competitions, after finishing last season with 17.

Jimenez was dispossessed three times – the most of any Wolves player – and barely put a foot right in the first period.

But his character and ability shone through in the end, taking his penalty with aplomb and curling home the winner in emphatic fashion.

The Mexican had 50 touches, across all areas of the pitch.

So, as well as coming up with the goods in the final third, Jimenez worked his socks off for Wolves.

He is one of the most complete No.9s around.

Doc duels

Although he was poor in terms of passing for Wolves, Doherty made his mark in the air this past weekend.

The Irishman won 11 headers on the right-hand side – and nobody else came close.

Leander Dendoncker, although he let Long get ahead of him and nod in for the Saints, was the next best in that regard, coming up with six.

Romain Saiss – always good for some headers – managed five in the remarkable triumph too.