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Sunderland 0 - Southampton 4: Gabbiadini brace helps Saints demolish struggling Black Cats
THEY used to love the name Gabbiadini in these parts - not any more.
Manolo Gabbiadini celebrates scoring for Southampton in the 4-0 win over Sunderland
Marco Gabbiadini became a goalscoring legend for Sunderland after joining them from York City for £80,000 when they were in the old Third Division.
Southampton recently invested £14.6million in their own Gabbiadini - and he is already well on the way to becoming a Saints hero.
Manolo Gabbiadini, signed from Napoli last month, was credited with a first-half double yesterday.
Gabbiadini scoring his second goal in the win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light
The Italian striker's first owed everything to Sunderland centre-back Lamine Kone's header, the ball looking to have glanced off Gabbiadini's shoulder on its way in.
But there were no doubts about the second as he received a ball from Dusan Tadic and turned between Kone and Black Cats skipper John O'Shea to beat keeper Vito Mannone with a clinical, right-foot finish.
Southampton boss Claude Puel said: "Manolo is a striker, a technical player of quality who can finish well."
Shane Long celebrates after completing Southampton's 4-0 rout of Sunderland
Sunderland, 4-0 winners at Crystal Palace a week earlier, found out how it felt to be on the receiving end of such a result.
Centre-back Jason Denayer put through his own goal two minutes from time, then Saints substitute Shane Long side-footed home to complete Sunderland's humiliation.
"I think we've let everyone down today," Sunderland midfielder Steven Pienaar said.
Boss David Moyes rued a wasted opportunity. "We had a great chance to maybe move out of the bottom three. This is a game gone and the games are running out," he said.