Southampton stay second with win over QPR

Graziano Pelle's acrobatic volley ensured an unhappy south coast return for Harry Redknapp as Southampton saw off QPR 2-1 at St Mary's.

On-loan defender Ryan Bertrand opened his Saints account to hand the hosts the lead before Charlie Austin blasted home on the turn. Italian striker Pelle trumped Austin's smart finish with a true showman's goal to secure Saints' fourth win in six Premier League ties this term.

Former Southampton boss Redknapp received the hate-filled welcome he anticipated, after quitting Saints for bitter rivals Portsmouth in 2005.

The ex-Tottenham boss was subjected to vitriolic chanting from home supporters, but would have chuckled to himself when Austin stole the second half equaliser.

The former bricklayer had a fine chance to double his tally, but headed wide, while Nico Kranjcar also hit the woodwork with a fine free-kick.

The ex-Portsmouth midfielder fired a set-piece goal to steal QPR a point against Stoke last weekend, but was just unable to repeat the feat at St Mary’s.

Pelle's stunning volley won the day however, the €10 million summer recruit notching his fifth Southampton goal. Southampton's victory kept them second in the table, after Chelsea eased past Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, to continue new boss Ronald Koeman's fine Premier League start.

Leicester City were given a reality check at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace made sure a memorable week for the Foxes ended in defeat.

Having come from two goals down to beat Manchester United 5-3 last weekend, Leicester boss Nigel Pearson conceded pre-match that he now had to stop people getting over-excited with his side's impressive start to life in the Barclays Premier League. But there was little to send the travelling contingent back to the East Midlands feeling giddy as the bite of top-flight football saw the visitors punished for a rare off-day, losing 2-0.

For Palace boss Neil Warnock, this was a second win in six days as goals from Fraizer Campbell and Mile Jedinak settled an encounter which inherently lacked the quality both sides showed in causing upsets last Sunday.

Leicester capitalised on some wayward defending to seal their headline-making win over United last weekend but today they found themselves wanting at the back.

Following a timid first half which was played as though both sides were set up not to lose, Palace struck twice in three minutes shortly after the interval. The Eagles have now taken eight points from Warnock’s four league games in charge as the 65-year-old recalled all 11 players who had started the 3-2 win at Everton.

Connor Wickham passed up a glorious opportunity to claim a first win of the season for Sunderland over 10-man Swansea. The unmarked striker was picked out by Sebastian Larsson six yards from goal with 16 minutes of a tight contest remaining, but sent his header wastefully over the bar to let the Swans off the hook as the Black Cats had to settle for their fifth draw in six league outings to date. In a game of few clear-cut chances, the home side enjoyed the better of them with keeper Lukasz Fabianski having to be at his best before the break. But apart from Wickham's chance and late efforts from Larsson and substitute Steven Fletcher, goalmouth action was at a premium and Swansea, who had full-back Angel Rangel sent off for a second bookable offence nine minutes from time, banked a point on a day when they were far from at their best in front of a crowd of 41,325 at the Stadium of Light.