James Ward-Prowse has admitted Southampton discussed using the Goodison Park atmosphere to their advantage ahead of their 2-1 win on Saturday afternoon.
It was Ward-Prowse who inspired the Saints to victory on Merseyside, scoring two second-half goals to cancel out Amadou Onana's opener and move Nathan Jones' side level on points with the Blues.
Much of the noise heading into this fixture had centred around Everton's plans to stage a sit-in protest following the full-time whistle, aimed at the board who were advised not to attend the match due to safety fears.
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And Ward-Prowse has shared that Southampton viewed the unrest at Everton as something to exploit. "Yeah, we did [speak about it]. We touched on it slightly," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Every time I have been here [to Goodison Park], it has been a fantastic atmosphere. The crowd make it hostile and a high-energy place to play, but we mainly focused on ourselves and what we can do to control and win the game. I think we did that well especially well in the second half."
The Saints arrived at Goodison Park on the back of cups wins over Crystal Palace and Manchester City, something that served as great motivation as they looked to maintain this momentum.
"Having beaten a very good Manchester City side and with the way we performed in the week, we didn't want to turn up [at Everton] thinking we were something brilliant. We are still striving and working towards something," stated the Southampton set-piece specialist.
"To come here with the right mentality and to show that spirit in the second half embodies what the manager wants us to be - and that is a high-energy, aggressive team."
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