Aston Villa 1 Southampton 0 - Report
Jhon Duran marked his first Premier League start of the season with the only goal as Villa battled past basement boys Southampton.
The Colombia international netted in the 24th minute to earn Unai Emery’s men their second win in four days to consolidate their position in the top half of the Premier League.
Duran’s goal was one of only three shots on target in a match of poor quality, played in Storm Darragh wind which gusted up to 60 miles per hour.
The visitors failed to seriously test Villa keeper Emi Martinez, who kept just his second clean sheet of the season.
Analysis
Villa’s only concern was what appeared to be a hamstring injury sustained by Leon Bailey in the second half.
Emery, who had declared naming an unchanged XI from the one which started Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Brentford “impossible” due to the proximity of the matches, made four changes including three in defence. They always looked like keeping the toothless Saints at bay.
Duran, meanwhile, provided the difference in attack, pouncing on a lapse in the visiting defence to scored his ninth goal of the season in all competitions and first since October.
The decision to hand the 20-year-old just his fourth Premier League start paid dividends when he put the hosts ahead on 24 minutes.
Until that point, it felt like the opening goal might go either way. Morgan Rogers saw a shot deflected narrowly wide, though there was a more decisive block at the other end from Ezri Konsa, who threw himself in the way of Cameron Archer’s goalbound effort.
Wet and very windy conditions made passing out from the back tricky and the Saints were almost caught out when Boubacar Kamara pounced on a Joe Lumley pass. The goalkeeper redeemed himself by saving at close range from Duran, before John McGinn saw a shot blocked.
Soon after the Saints would not be so lucky. Harwood-Bellis opted to control rather than clear a punt upfield and Duran stole in before charging toward goal and lifting a finish over Lumley.
Duran might have had another straight away had it not been for a vital last-ditch challenge from Nathan Wood after Villa won the ball straight from the visitors’ kick-off.
Morgan Rogers then flashed in a low cross which would have been a tap in had any of his team-mates made a far post run.
It was tough going in attack from there until around the hour mark when Emery made a quadruple change. Watkins was one of those introduced and he saw a shot blocked, with Pau Torres glancing the subsequent corner wide of the near post.
Southampton were seeing plenty of the ball but doing little with it, their most dangerous moment before the final 20 minutes coming when they broke from a Villa corner and Archer saw a shot blocked by Kamara.
Watkins had provided Villa with more of a presence in attack and put in a cross from which fellow substitute Ross Barkley should have put the result beyond doubt, only to shoot wide.
The impressive Nathan Wood also blocked a Watkins effort
Wood denied Watkins again with another sliding block in stoppage time before Lumley denied McGinn with almost the last action of the match but the single goal always looked enough for Villa.
Key Moments
24 GOAL Jhon Duran fires Villa in front, robbing Taylor Harwood-Bellis and powering toward goal before lifting a finish over Joe Lumley.
Teams
Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Maatsen (Digne 59), Kamara, Tielemans (Barkley 59), Bailey (Philogene 59), Rogers, McGinn, Duran (Watkins 59) Subs not used: Cash, Mings, Onana, Buendia, Olsen (gk).
Southampton (5-4-1): Lumley, Bree (Aribo HT), Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Manning, Walker-Peters, Dibling, Downes (Diaz 79), Fernandes, Armstrong, Archer (Amo-Ameyaw 72) Subs not used: Edwards, Sugawara, Sulemana, Taylor, Fraser, McCarthy (gk).
