This was the last game of my August 2017 tour. I stayed in a hotel at Heathrow and started early to catch the 0936 train to Southampton from Victoria, which would arrive at noon in Southammpton. In Southampton, I walked in the direction of the ground to find a place to eat. I chose The London Hotel, a nice and not overcrowded pub, which I didn't regret. About an hour before the game I left to locate St Mary's, my 75th league ground. It was a sunny and enjoyable day in the Itchen Stand from where I watched the game. 

Southampton's new manager Mauricio Pellegrino had his first PL game and the Welsh side had Paul Clement at the helm. After having watched a sparkling 4-3 game at the Emirates the night before, this turned out to be a rather lacklustre affair. Southampton had the better of chances, but in the end 0-0 seemed like a fair result. It was more exciting to follow the other scores. Burnley's 3-2 win at Chelsea stood out.

Virgil van Dijk was not in the Southampton team on the opening day, but he would play 12 games for them in the 2017/18 season before leaving them to become Champions League winner at Liverpool. Fraser Forster had played in all of Southampton's PL games the season before and was still their favoured goalkeeper. Gylfi Sigurdsson was not in Swansea's team as he would be transferred to Everton four days later. Tammy Abraham did his first start in the PL in this game and Martin Olsson was as usual at right-back for the Swans. 

After the game, it was another 3 1/2 hours trip back to the hotel to fly home the following morning.