Aston Villa 3 Southampton 4 - Report and pictures
Villa fell to a second straight Premier League defeat as they were beaten at home by Southampton.
In a bizarre match, Saints skipper James Ward-Prowse scored two superb free-kicks after Jannik Vestegaard had broken the deadlock to put the visitors 3-0 ahead at half-time.
Danny Ings then scored a brilliant goal to make it 4-0 before the hour mark and the hosts looked set to suffer a hammering.
But Villa pulled one back through Tyrone Mings before Jack Grealish and Ollie Watkins both netted in stoppage time to restore some pride.
Analysis
After winning their opening four matches of a league season for the first time since 1930, this was a second successive heavy home defeat for Villa, who had been beaten 3-0 by Leeds last time out.
Trying to make sense of their campaign so far is no easy task, not least after a result which at one stage looked set to be a hammering ended with defeat by a single goal.
What can be said for certain is the defensive discipline which characterised their early performances has been lost.
Southampton - who also had an early goal ruled out by VAR - were ruthless, yet it was basic Villa errors which presented their visitors with the opportunities.
Brilliant as both Ward-Prowse free-kicks were, they were the result of fouls needlessly given away in dangerous areas. Vestegaard’s opener, meanwhile, came after John McGinn was left responsible for marking the towering defender at a free-kick.
Four down with more than half-an-hour to play when Ings crashed a shot in off the bar from long range, Villa’s response over the closing stages was at least encouraging and goals from Mings, Watkins and Grealish at least limited the damage to their goal difference.
Had it not been for some fine saves from visiting keeper Alex McCarthy, who twice denied Trezeguet, Villa might have pulled off an unlikely comeback.
Of further concern to head coach Dean Smith was a first-half injury sustained by winger Bertrand Traore. The Burkina Faso international had been handed a first Premier League start but lasted less than 30 minutes before being forced off.
Traore’s inclusion saw Smith change his starting line-up for the first time in four matches. Smith’s chief concern from the Leeds defeat had been his team’s reaction to going behind and they were fortunate not to be trailing inside three minutes against the Saints.
Villa’s defending at a corner, something of a strength since lockdown, fell apart as Danny Ings won a near post header and the ball flew into the corner of the net via a combination of Ezri Konsa and Che Adams.
Yet as the visiting players trotted back into their own half, VAR came to Villa’s rescue, judging Adams to have been a fraction offside when Ings had flicked the ball on.
Villa almost wasted the fortune immediately, Theo Walcott sending a first-time shot off the top of the bar after the home side were opened up far too easily.
Typically, it was Grealish who started to get Villa moving, the skipper seeing a shot deflected narrowly wide after being found by a clever pass from Matt Targett.
When Ross Barkley saw a free-kick flick off the wall and over, there was a sense the hosts were getting on top.
But on 20 minutes it was the visitors who took the lead as Villa’s set piece defending again found wanting.
Targett conceded a free-kick on Villa’s left when attempting to block a Ward-Prowse cross and when the latter swung a delivery into the box, Vestergaard easily escaped the attentions of John McGinn to power a header into the top corner.
Traore saw a shot deflected just wide as Villa looked for a quick response but that was his last act before going off injured.
Villa’s day then got even worse as Ward-Prowse duly doubled the Saints lead. Luiz upended Walcott 25 yards out and Ward-Prowse, a specialist from such range, curled the free-kick into the top corner.
On the stroke of half-time, the England midfielder did it again, this time from closer range. Cash conceded a free-kick on the edge of the box by stopping a cross with his hand and Ward-Prowse again found the top corner, with Martinez unmoved.
His opposite number, Alex McCarthy, was finally forced into action early in the second half, saving headers from Trezeguet and Grealish in quick succession.
But Ings then ended any hope of a comeback with a terrific strike to make it 4-0, finishing off a fine flowing move by cutting in from the left and sending an unstoppable shot in off the bar.
Villa finally found some cheer when Mings glanced home a Grealish cross to pull one back.
Further chances came for the hosts, with Trezeguet denied twice - the second occasion in spectacular fashion - by McCarthy. The Saints keeper also denied Mings a second when he tipped the defender’s header over the bar.
In stoppage time, Villa pulled another back when substitute Ibrahima Diallo brought down Grealish and Watkins sent McCarthy the wrong way from the spot.
Grealish then reduced the deficit to one when he fired home from outside the box but there was barely enough time to kick off before the final whistle went.
Teams
Villa (4-3-3): Martinez, Cash (Elmohamady 67), Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Luiz, Barkley, Traore (Trezeguet 29), Watkins, Grealish Subs not used: Engels, Nakamba, Hourihane, Davis, Steer (gk).
Southampton (4-4-2): McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Bednarek (Stephens HT), Vestergaard, Bertrand (Diallo 80), Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Walcott, Ings (Long 85), Adams Subs not used: Redmond, Djenepo, N’Lundulu, Forster (gk).
