Five-star Southampton display play-off credentials with QPR thrashing

Kuryu Matsuki scored his first Championship goals as Southampton threw down their play-off credentials with a 5-0 thrashing of QPR.

Finn Azaz got the bulldozing under way before Matsuki notched either side of half-time to fire Saints up to seventh and to a seventh league match without defeat.

Leo Scienza and James Bree’s stunner added gloss and left QPR seven points adrift of the top six to dent their hopes of reaching the Premier League.

Saints opened the scoring with the first shot of the match in the 10th minute, as Azaz went from goal-maker to goal scorer.

He had registered an assist on each of his last three appearances against QPR, for Middlesbrough and Southampton, but on this occasion he bent brilliantly into the bottom corner.

The forward received the ball from Ryan Manning 25 yards from goal before taking a couple of touches and then firing home just his second goal in 16 outings.

The hosts were the more dominant side and towards the end of the half began to turn their supremacy into chances as Caspar Jander got in behind but could not clip his finish over Joe Walsh before Matsuki doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time.

The Japanese winger found himself completely unmarked two yards from goal to nod in Scienza’s inch-perfect corner for his first Championship goal.

Five minutes after the interval and Matsuki had a second league goal – again Southampton had scored with their first attacking moment of the half.

Scienza’s curling effort was pushed away by Walsh but only into the path of Matsuki, who confidently directed home.

It could have been four moments later, but Walsh reacted quickly to tap James Bree’s unmarked header at the back post over the crossbar.

The R’s finally forced Daniel Peretz into a save in the 57th minute, through a Harvey Vale driver, but two minutes later they had conceded again.

Scienza countered, left Rhys Norrington-Davies on his backside before stroking in off the post for his sixth Saints goal of the season.

Right-back Bree grabbed the pick of the goals in the 70th minute when he kneed the ball past a defender before volleying powerfully past Walsh to put Saints into cruise control.

They stuck at 5-0, which meant a biggest league win since a 5-0 beating of Swansea in 2023, and extended their winning run over Rangers to six games stretching back to 2014.