Southampton striker Charlie Austin marked his return to the side with two goals that helped the Saints to a 4-1 thrashing of Everton at St Mary's on Sunday.

Mauricio Pellegrino's men were utterly dominant throughout and, despite a Toffees equaliser just before half time, the hosts produced a magnificent second-half display to march into the top half of the Premier League table.

Southampton pressed from the start and had two set pieces that resulted in missed opportunities. James Ward-Prowse's free kick sailed through several bodies before Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had to react well when the ball flicked off centre-back Phil Jagielka.

Austin grew into the game, and had a shot rise over Pickford's goal before the latter was rooted when the forward's flick glanced the outside of the post.

It was Dusan Tadic who opened the scoring, however, after he shrugged off Leighton Baines's challenge and squeezed the ball under Pickford from a perfectly weighted through ball.

Everton caretaker boss David Unsworth brought off Baines and substituted on Welsh international Ashley Williams, but the Saints continued to have chances as Virgil van Dijk had a header steered wide and Ward-Prowse was played in but failed to muster decent contact on the ball.

The visitors were thrown a lifeline, however, when Gylfi Sigurdsson rocketed a shot off the underside of the bar in added-time to equalise with his first goal since April.

If the scores being level had given Everton hope, all their optimism was lost when Austin latched on to Ryan Bertrand's cross seven minutes after the break to nod Southampton ahead.

From that point onwards, the hosts dominated. Their advantage was increased to two goals six minutes later when Tadic whipped in a cross for the striker to glance past Pickford.

Pellegrino took off Austin and brought on Shane Long, whose impact was almost immediate when his curling shot was tipped wide.

Midfielder Steven Davis completed the scoring three minutes from time, taking a touch to open up the angle before making it 4-1.

The result sees Southampton jump into 10th with just their fourth win this term, while Everton remain 16th, two points above the relegation zone.

Southampton (4-2-3-1): Forster; Cedric, Van Dijk, Hoedt, Bertrand; Hojbjerg, Davis; Ward-Prowse, Boufal (Yoshida 86'), Tadic (Lemina 78'); Austin (Long 80')

Everton: (4-5-1) Pickford; Baines (Williams 27'), Keane (Vlasic 75'), Jagielka, Kenny; Schneiderlin, Mirallas (Lookman 64'), Lennon, Gueye, Sigurdsson; Calvert-Lewin