After a week of international football, the Premier League returned on Saturday with its usual explosive and entertaining football with the Super Eagles stars also featuring.
Joe Aribo did not travel down to Algeria for the Super Eagles friendly, while Alex Iwobi featured in both games and even scored in the initial test game.
Aribo enjoyed the trust of manager Southampton coach Ralph Hassenhuttl as he got a starting berth against Iwobi's Everton on Saturday at the Saint Mary's.
Aribo scored the game's opening goal in the 49th minute to hand the Saints the lead, but the lead lasted only three minutes as Everton equalized through Conor Coady while Dwight McNeil compounded Southampton’s fate two minutes later.
Alex Iwobi provided the assist for Everton’s second goal in the game, and that proved to be the winner.
The win away at Southampton takes Everton to 11th on the log while the Saints drop to 16th.
Joe Aribo admits frustrating result
Joe Aribo admits Southampton’s defeat to Everton was made doubly frustrating having scored first in a Premier League game for the first time since the opening day of the season.
“The boys are really disappointed. Going a goal ahead, it’s really frustrating to concede so soon, and the boys are disappointed because we wanted to get a result today and that wasn’t the case,” Aribo said.
“I was thinking about it earlier today, that we’ve been coming from behind, so to get a goal ahead was a good feeling.
“To concede so soon is bitterly frustrating, and me and the boys were really not happy about it. We need to go back to the drawing board, focus and learn from our mistakes.
“That’s the Premier League. Sometimes if you don’t take your chances, you get punished – that’s the game. If you make mistakes, you get punished also.
“We just need to recover because the games are coming thick and fast, and we need to be ready.
“The squad is big, so everyone needs to be focused. We need to work together, be strong, be a unit and be ready to go.”
This article was most recently revised and updated 8 months ago
