Championship: Southampton 4 Birmingham 1

Southampton maintained their early season momentum with a 4-1 thrashing of Birmingham City in the Championship on Sunday.

The promoted club sit on top the English second-tier on 18 points from seven games thanks to a 13th consecutive win at home.

Nigel Adkins’ men blew the Midlands club’s defence open early, with goals from Ricky Lambert, Guly do Prado and Adam Lallana putting the hosts 3-0 up after just 34 minutes.

Southampton maintained that advantage until four minutes after the interval, when New Zealand international Chris Wood pulled one back for Chris Hughton’s men, but it was merely a consolation.

Richard Chaplow topped off the hosts’ victory when he struck in the 78th minute.

Birmingham showed the effects of playing in Europa League just four days prior to the match, when they lost to Sporting Braga, and last season’s Premier League outfit have just seven points from five games this campaign.