Lallana: It was a professional performance

Adam Lallana believes a strong second-half performance was key to Sunday’s win over Southampton.

Lallana was heavily involved in the crucial goal for Leo Trossard as Albion, who had seen Lewis Dunk’s early header cancelled out by Che Adams, won 2-1 at St Mary’s to move up to 16^th in the Premier League table.

Albion let a half-time lead slip against Leicester in their previous game but a resilient defensive performance ensured they saw the game out.

“It’s a massive three points. In the last 2-3 weeks we have performed to a reasonably high level which would normally be enough to get us more points than we did,” he said. “The difference in the second half compared to last week was that we weren’t passive, we went looking for more goals and we did the dirty part of football when we had too as well. I thought our second-half performance was really professional.

“The challenge now is to sustain the levels in the remaining ten games, starting against Newcastle on Saturday.”

Lallana is also pleased with his own contribution after completing two successive games. “It’s never easy to go to a new club and make an impact straight away. Since coming back after being ill with COVID-19 I have had 5-6 weeks of good training and I’m starting to perform at a level I am happy with.

“More importantly the team are playing well and creating chances. We enjoyed Sunday’s game but the focus now is on Newcastle which is another important game for us.”