SAINTS continued their remarkable away form with an utterly dominant fourth successive win on the road.

Nathan Redmond’s clinical 22nd-minute opener was followed by an equally good finish from Stuart Armstrong as Saints made it four wins in a row away from St Mary’s for the first time post-Ronald Koeman.

Crystal Palace failed to get a shot on target but the win was tarnished by an injury to Cedric Soares, who hobbled off to be replaced by Oriol Romeu, as James Ward-Prowse went to right-back.

But it did not stop Saints from dominating as they repeated their 2-0 win in the corresponding match of last season.

With Jan Bednarek injured and Danny Ings rested, Ralph Hasenhuttl made two changes to the team that started against Wolves, with Jannik Vestergaard and Michael Obafemi coming in.

Saints had the better of the opening 15 minutes but were given a huge let off when Cenk Tosun blazed over the bar after a bad error from Vestergaard.

The Dane lost possession to Jordan Ayew while bringing the ball out of defence and Ayew teed up Tosun who failed to even hit the target.

Saints defence was given another test when Cedric hobbles off, having received treatment for several minutes following a bad foul from Jairo Riedewald.

But within a minute of the substitution Saints took the lead.

Another fantastic assist from the back was provided by Stephens, but Redmond still had much to do.

An outside-of-the-foot turn took him past Martin Kelly and he shrugged off the attentions of James McCarthur before firing across goal into the far corner.

Redmond's third PL goal of the season was another beauty. He then fed the overlapping Bertrand and Armstrong sidefooted a first-time shot that Guaita tipped over the bar.

When Bertrand delivered another testing ball, Armstrong spun on the edge of the area before firing narrowly wide. Saints continued to create openings, despite the loss of Cedric.

A cute Redmond pass to the overlapping JWP was followed by a cross that managed to find its way through a busy penalty area.

Another shot from Armstrong soon followed, this time straight at Guaita.

Excellent defending from Stephens quelled the threat of Wilfried Zaha after Palace’s dangerman received the ball in the centre circle and ran at the Saints backline.

A Cruyff turn from Jordan Ayew was followed by a blistering run from the Palace number nine and a pass to Zaha who shimmied into the area and crossed, but Vestergaard did well to snuff out the danger with a well-timed challenge.

Long had an opportunity immediately afterwards but just over ran the ball as he tried to go past Guaita before heading a Ward-Prowse corner into the sidenetting.

Zaha was fortunate not to be sent off after poking JWP in the face as the teams left the field, with VAR deciding it did not warrant a red card for violent conduct.

There is no loved lost between the pair going back to the Palace star's sending off at St Mary's last January.

Zaha had to be pulled clear by Vestergaard but was still remonstrating as the teams left the field when he should have been grateful to be able to return.

Saints went 2-0 up at the start of the second half, with Redmond providing the assist this time, teeing up Armstrong in a central position on the edge of the area, from where the Scotsman curled a wonderful finish into the bottom corner with the inside of his right foot.

After Saturday, Saints were determined to hold on to this 2-0 lead and they completed another performance of great character, typified by Bertrand throwing himself in front of Jordan Ayew to block a shot in the penalty area.

Saints could easily have scored more but Long shot straight at Guaita from Obafemi's pass after doing well to get between Cahill and Tomkins.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Guaita, Tomkins, Cahill, Kelly (Ward 62), Riedewald, Kouyate (Meyer 62), Ayew, Zaha, McArthur, McCarthy, Tosun (Wickham 69).
Subs not used: Dann, Hennessey, McGregor, Pierrick.

SAINTS: McCarthy, Cedric (Romeu 21), Vestergaard, Stephens, Bertrand, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong, Redmond, Hojbjerg, Long (Ings 70), Obafemi (Adams 83).
Subs not used: Yoshida, Djenepo, Boufal, Gunn.

REFEREE: Andre Marriner