Mauricio Pellegrino believes his side’s goal spree against West Ham is just the tonic they need to start afresh this season.

Saints finally ended their home goal drought as Manolo Gabbiadini ended 556 minutes of barren football at St Mary’s to give his team the lead at St Mary’s.

Saints ended up netting three as they secured a pulsating 3-2 victory which looked to be beyond them as the game moved into stoppage time with ten man West Ham having clawed their way back from two down to 2-2.

Charlie Austin netted from the penalty spot – a second spot kick of the day after Dusan Tadic also converted – and Pellegrino was certain it was a crucial afternoon.

He said: “I am really happy but not just about the players.

“It is important in our context as Southampton as a team but for the strikers to score goals is always important. Charlie, Dusan and Manolo it is good news and not just for them but for everybody.”

It was a reward for hard work for Saints, who spent a lot of time on the training ground working on being more clinical in the final third, and Pellegrino added: “Some time you cannot control this type of situation.

“I will repeat that we can work in different ways in how we want to approach the attack, how we want to play with the ball, but to have this accuracy to score goals in something that sometimes depends on to be in good moments, sometimes to be precise.”

It was certainly an up and down game against the Hammers, and there certainly could be no complaints about boring football such as though levelled against Pellegrino’s predecessor Claude Puel.

“A difficult game to be a manager and a nice game to be a fan,” surmised a smiling Pellegrino.

“It was unpredictable until the end and suddenly it changed the dynamic twice - once for them and another for us.

“This is the Premier League and when you can’t control some situations like long ball or second ball in aerial play they create some problems.

“Every single long ball in the 18 yard box is something we have to improve but we won the game really difficult and this is the good news for us.”