7 December 2024
Aston Villa 1 Southampton 0
Aston Villa had ended a run of eight games without victory against Brentford in midweek. With bottom of the table Southampton the visitors to Villa Park, this was a big chance for Unai Emery’s side to make it back-to-back wins. Under his control, the hosts had not lost to a newly-promoted side in the Premier League.
The visitors were glad to have Dibling back in the side for the trip to the Midlands. They started well and Walker-Peters set up Manning for the first effort of the game. His shot struck the inside of the leg of Carlos and narrowly missed the far post. All too often The Saints struggle to put pressure on sides in the attacking third, so this was a good start for Russell Martin’s side.
As the rain beat down at Villa Park, it was a very slick surface to play on. The visitors continued to pile forward but they had failed to test Martinez in the Villa goal. The hosts countered and Duran was in a race with Lumley to be the first to a pass threaded in behind the defence. As the striker looked to take it around him, the keeper got a crucial touch to send it wide for a corner.
Once again, Southampton got themselves into all sorts of trouble trying to play out from the back. Duran’s shot was smothered by Lumley but it broke to McGinn in the box. He checked onto his left foot as he looked to get a shot away but the block sent it looping in the air and the keeper was able to gather with no attackers around him.
Russell Martin is lucky he does not self-harm like Pep Guardiola when things go wrong. He witnessed two of his defenders go for the same ball and Duran run through clear on goal. As Lumley tried to close him down, he slotted it over him to open the scoring for Aston Villa. It seems like a reoccurring nightmare for The Saints’ manager, opposition goals coming from nothing but his sides’ errors.
The Villans grew in confidence after the goal. Rogers did well down the wing and as the ball was crossed in, Duran met it but his shot was deflected wide for a corner. The hosts could not make anything of it and the two teams went into the break with a slender lead for Emery’s side. Southampton were still very much in this game however.
After the interval, Villa looked to turn the screw. Rogers combined well with Watkins but as he looked to square the ball it almost deflected into The Saints’ goal. Thankfully for the visitors, it went narrowly wide for a corner. You felt at this stage that if Emery’s side were able to double their lead, this game was done and dusted.
Southampton were still giving Martinez little to do in the Villa goal. Instead it was the hosts who came forward with Watkins again, he unselfishly tried to lay it on a plate for Barkley. As he looked to stab his shot goalwards, it deflected wide for a corner once again. They really should have wrapped the game up there, you wondered if they would pay the ultimate price.
As the visitors looked to throw more players forward searching for an equaliser, it left them so open at the back. It seemed a reoccurring theme that Aston Villa were charging forward with a numbers overload but could not find the back of the net. Some last-ditch defending by The Saints was keeping them in this game.
At one stage in the game the travelling fans started to chastise the hosts for the scoreline. Singing ‘you must be ****, it’s only one-nil!’ It is good to see the Southampton fans finding some humour with their torrid position at the bottom of the table. It is difficult to see what the answer is for them this season in the top-flight.
Changing the manager is certainly not that answer. The only thing the owners need to consider is whether they want to throw money at keeping them up in the January transfer window. That is the only way things will differ. They need to bring in four or five players of Premier League quality. They look too blunt in attack at this level.
Although the result did not go their way, Martin took positives from the game. They had come to Villa Park and spent more time in the final third than the hosts. Also, losing by a single goal scoreline is an improvement. However, the manager did seem a little despondent as to how he can get his team doing more in attack to start winning games.
Aston Villa moved up to sixth in the table. They are only two points behind Man City in the final Champions League spot. Considering how long they went without winning, it is crazy to see them within touching distance of the coveted top four. Emery will be hoping these two consecutive wins puts all talk of their dreadful run of form to bed for now.
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