Shane Long scored the only goal of the game to secure a 1-0 victory for Southampton away at relegation-threatened Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.

A game lacking any real drama finally sparked into life 20 minutes from time as the visitors made the breakthrough, before seeing the contest out to make it five wins from their last six outings.

Swansea, on the other hand, now find themselves just three points above the drop zone after a winless run stretching three games.

Sunderland's earlier surprise victory over Manchester United only upped the pre-match pressure on the struggling hosts, who follow up today's game with back-to-back visits to Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal in the coming weeks.

Things certainly started in a bright enough manner for the Swans, but it was Southampton who got the first shot on goal seven minutes in when Graziano Pelle met a volley which Lukasz Fabianski was equal to.

Swansea responded quickly with what would prove to be a rare strike on target of their own, as Andre Ayew tested Fraser Forster with a rather tame effort at the end of a run from deep.

Neither side could really build on their early openings, with a few blocked efforts and a dipping Ryan Bertrand attempt from the visitors as good as things got in an attacking sense until the dying embers of the half.

With the interval approaching, Gylfi Sigurdsson blasted high over the bar on the volley when peeling away from his marker, missing out on the chance to make it six goals in his last seven league outings in the process.

The best chance of the opening 45 minutes would fall to eventual match winner Long, who could only nod the ball into the welcoming hands of Fabianski after seeing Federico Fernandez allow a cross from the left to completely sail over his own head.

Ronald Koeman's men were quick to build on that late first-half opening, with Oriol Romeu - one of four fresh faces brought into the visitors' ranks for this one - glancing Bertrand's cross wide of goal when left in a decent position.

Both sides were beginning to see more of the ball in the attacking third, as Sigurdsson curled a show just a few inches wide, shortly before Southampton found the back of the net only to see the goal ruled out.

Fabianski just about had two hands on the ball when being challenged by Jose Fonte inside the area, deeming Pelle's subsequent tap-in illegal in the eyes of official Jonathan Moss.

That almost acted as a turning point in the match after Ashley Williams came close to converting Sigurdsson's back-post cross, which the Wales international somehow failed to get a meaningful touch on when left unmarked.

It was to be the Saints who grabbed the all-important breakthrough 20 minutes from time, however, as Long this time made the most of his chance inside the box when left all alone once more.

Some poor defending allowed the Irishman to get on the end of another quality cross from James Ward-Prowse, which somehow squirmed through the hands of Fabianski on the line.

Modou Barrow came off the bench to lead the late Swansea charge, dragging a shot narrowly wide shortly after that setback, while a quiet Alberto Paloschi also felt that he could have had a penalty late on when bundled over.

The referee adjudged that there was little in the incident between the Italian and Maya Yoshida, however, allowing the visitors to spring forward and come close to grabbing a second through Charlie Austin's deflected effort.

Despite throwing bodies forward, Francesco Guidolin's charges could not break down their opponents' defence, meaning a sixth clean sheet on the bounce for a Southampton side now flying high in sixth place.