Southampton bagged themselves a collector's item on Monday: a win over Liverpool.Defeating the reigning Premier League champions has become near enough one of the toughest challenges in world football as they even threatened Arsenal's record as recently as last March.Only Manchester City could beat them in the 2018/19 campaign and the Citizens joined an elite club with Watford and Arsenal as the only sides to overcome them in their title charge of 2019/20.

Southampton 1-0 Liverpool

So, it would be fair to say that Southampton achieved something special, following in the footsteps of Aston Villa's mind-boggling 7-2 win from earlier in the season.

Don't get us wrong, we're not trying to say that the Saints replicated a feat of such bonkers proportions, but it was the solidity of their performance at St. Mary's Stadium that was notable.

It would set in motion by a goal within the opening two minutes as south coast side won a free-kick under admittedly fortuitous circumstances when Thiago Alcantara was booked.

A big night for the Saints

However, Southampton grabbed the opportunity with both hands as James Ward-Prowse sparked a fantastic routine that fooled Trent Alexander-Arnold and allowed Danny Ings to find the net.

The home side proceeded to wrap that lead in cotton wool, arguably coming closest to finding a second goal with Liverpool failing to produce a shot on target until the 75th minute.

Truth be told, the most that Liverpool threatened came through the jittery medium of VAR that could easily have punished a foul on Sadio Mane or what looked to be a clear handball Jack Stephens.

So, a 1-0 win over the champions to kick off 2021. Pretty good going, huh?

Pure emotion from Hasenhuttl

Well, actually, that would be something of an understatement because you only had to see the reaction of manager Ralph Hasenhüttl to see what it meant for the plucky underdogs.

That's because the Austrian manager was seen overcome with emotion upon the full-time whistle, dropping to his knees and visibly crying as he exited the pitch.

Now, we're not going to lie, plenty of fans are mocking him for getting so excited about a league win, but give the guy some credit, he's been on a rollercoaster ride with his Southampton team.

It's easy to forget that the 9-0 defeat to Leicester City at the very stadium only happened just over a year ago and now, 16 months later, they're dishing out a loss to the league's top side.