Burnley weathered a defiant second-half rearguard from Southampton to claim an important victory at Turf Moor.
The home side surged 3-0 up after just 11 minutes. They hit the bar before Chris Perry diverted Wade Elliott's cross into his own net for the opener.
Joey Gudjonsson nodded in a rebound and sidefooted Elliott's cross home.
Saints hit back after the break, Rudi Skacel fired in left-footed and Andrew Surman swept home a second, although Burnley might have added more late on.
Burnley manager Owen Coyle:
"There's no doubt we deserved to win. There was an anxious 20 minutes after half-time but Brian Jensen never had a save to make.
"We could have had scored four or five and I think overall the scoreline flattered them.
"It's the boys' Christmas night out tonight and they can go and enjoy themselves before coming back in and working hard again next week."
Southampton boss Jan Poortvliet:
"In the second half we went for it and tried to get the players to believe that we could do what Burnley had done to us in the opening 11 minutes.
"It nearly worked but we gave two of the goals away and it was always going to be difficult.
"In the second half they were all motivated and they were all trying to do the impossible."
Burnley: Jensen, Alexander, Carlisle, Caldwell, Jordan, Elliott, Gudjonsson, McCann, Eagles (Mahon 90), Paterson (Akinbiyi 90), Blake (Thompson 64).
Subs Not Used: Penny, MacDonald.
Booked: Carlisle, Thompson.
Goals: Perry 4 og, Gudjonsson 7, 11.
Southampton: Davis, James (Robertson 84), Perry, Cork, Skacel, Surman, Schneiderlin (Pearce 35), Lallana, Euell, McGoldrick, Wright-Phillips.
Subs Not Used: Forecast, Wotton, Gasmi.
Booked: James, Pearce, Skacel.
Goals: Skacel 49, Surman 61.
Att: 11,229
Ref: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~39~RS~)