Southampton moved into the Championship play-off spots as they ended Norwich City's four-match winning streak with victory at St Mary's.

They climbed above Wrexham into sixth place on goal difference after Finn Azaz's 10th goal of the season proved enough to beat the Canaries.

Norwich kept Daniel Peretz busy after the break, the Saints keeper denying Kenny McLean, Kellen Fisher and Ruairui McConville as the visitors again showed the resolve instilled in them since head coach Philippe Clement arrived in November.

They could not find an equaliser, though, and Saints held out to extend their unbeaten run in league and cup to 13 games and boost their hopes of an immediate return to the Premier League following last season's relegation.

Southampton made one change with Samuel Edozie replacing Cameron Bragg, his first start for the club in a league game since April 2024, while Norwich had Ruairi McConville back in their defence after missing two games with a knee injury.

The Canaries – with seven away victories behind them this season - looked the more confident side in the early stages and Anis Ben Slimane fired in a powerful effort which brought a good save from Daniel Peretz.

Saints hit back with James Bree forcing Vladan Kovacevic into action and then having a goal disallowed as Edozie was adjudged offside.

They did not have to wait long to open the scoring, though, as moments later Azaz burst into the box between two defenders after Cyle Larin flicked on a throw-in and kept his composure to lift the ball over Kovacevic to make it 1-0.

Norwich sent on Danish midfielder Pelle Mattsson for the second half but it was skipper McLean, scorer of some spectacular goals this season including a free-kick against Preston on Saturday, who breathed life into the visitors with a dipping shot which Peretz dived to his right to save.

And the Southampton keeper excelled again by blocking Fisher's follow-up effort with his body after he had failed to hold Ali Ahmed's initial strike as Norwich continued to press on a ground where they have not won a league game since 2008.

They hit the top of the crossbar in stoppage time when Liam Gibbs' cross deflected off the boot of defender Jack Stephens and were frustrated again just before the whistle by the impressive Peretz, who kept out McConville's header as Saints just about hung on.

Southampton have another home game on Saturday, against Oxford United, while Norwich will travel south again to take on Charlton Athletic – managed by former Saints boss Nathan Jones - at The Valley.

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert told BBC Radio Solent:

"You will have some games in the season when it comes down to the sacrifice of the players, the desire to win a game of football.

"We had some quality moments up the pitch and just needed to be resilient at the other end - I'm very happy.

"Double figures for Finn now, he's been working for that and now he has to make sure to keep going.

"Southampton has not been known for being a team that suffers and accepts not having the ball for a couple of moments but being resilient - and we are making some good steps in that direction."

Norwich head coach Philippe Clement told BBC Radio Norfolk:

"We were the dominant team against a team in really good form - first half it was in the balance, but the second half was totally ours.

"In total, we had more ball possession, more shots on target, more chances than them, more passes, more corners and several clear chances and the goalkeeper played the game of his life.

"Those things happen in football but the way my team played was really impressive, for sure in the second half.

"It's a really good performance, but we don't have the result we deserve. We need to continue in every game trying to push for great performances like this. I'm not busy with the ranking [table], I'm busy getting the best out of this squad."