Matthijs de Ligt praised André Onana for turning the game around as Man Utd beat Southampton 3-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.

De Ligt and Marcus Rashford scored shortly after Onana’s penalty save to put Erik ten Hag’s Man Utd on their way to victory. a much-needed win at promoted Southampton.

Both teams returned from international break with a desire to get a result, with Saints looking for a first point since their Premier League restart against a team reeling from a humiliating home defeat to rivals Liverpool.

Southampton started strongly but collapsed after Onana saved Cameron Archer’s poor penalty, with De Ligt scoring the first goal Man Utd goal and Rashford’s first of the season, shutting out the Saints completely.

Alejandro Garnacho added some gloss to his victory in the closing stages, which eased some of the pressure on Ten Hag, who can hardly afford to suffer the Red Devils’ first defeat to St Mary’s since 2003, after two straight defeats.

But Netherlands international De Ligt – who endured a nightmare half-time clash against the Netherlands – has praised Onana for turning the tide for Man Utd with his penalty save.

De Ligt said TNT Sport: “The win was obviously very important. I think when you get three points from three games it’s not enough, so there was some pressure, but I think we played very well today. A big compliment to André Onana who saved a very important penalty, he changed the game for us.”

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On scoring from a set piece, De Ligt added: “We’ve worked on a few set pieces, this one wasn’t exactly from the book but this one was from a good place. It’s my wife’s birthday so this one’s for her!”

After making a number of mistakes during the international break, De Ligt was asked if he had anything to prove. He replied: “Not really anything to prove, sometimes things don’t go as well as you want, but you have to look at the positive side.

“I was happy to play one and a half, it’s been a long time since I played a match. This is my third match in a week. For me it’s important to get into rhythm and I can show a bit more what I can do.”

When asked about his experience of being a Man Utd player so far, De Ligt continued: “I’m really enjoying it. We have a great group, great guys. A lot of young guys who need to grow and want to grow. Hopefully we can get more results like this and grow as a team.”

On his fitness after the substitution, De Ligt replied: “It’s going well, I just had a bit of cramp in the last four minutes. It’s the first time in probably five months that I’ve played three times in a row. I wanted to play until the end.”