Aston Villa’s pressure on the top five goals gained another dynamics when they defeated the already relegated Southampton 3-0 in Wed Mary’s.
Within 15 minutes of their second half, Ollie Watkins and Donyell Malen sealed the fifth victory in six games for Unai Emery, shortly after Aaron Ramsdale was saved by Marco Asensio.
Asensio’s second punishment was also saved in the second half, but a colleague compensated John McGinn a bounce to add shine.
Villa rises to the fifth with six games remaining, one point behind Manchester City in the fourth and four behind Nottingham Forest.
A stunning Watkins strike gave Villa lead 1-0
The section last weekend after the defeat at Spurs left Southampton with one main goal for the rest of the season: Beat Derby’s worst return on Premier League 11.
Even with the pressure element he tried to beat the decline from the equation, almost twice in the first two minutes of the game almost twice in a row, while Marcus Rashford and Ian Maatsen approached.
The saints soon sat back into the low block and frustrated their visitors, who were dominant in terms of holding and volume of shots, but in the first half recorded only 0.65 xg.
Aaron Ramsdale congratulated teammates after storing the first of two fines
In fact, Southampton probably had better chances that both came from the Cross Kyle Walker-Peters. Cameron Archer defeated Tyrone Ming for PACE and forced Emi Martinez not to turn in a close post before Paul Onuach was heading to the side network in a distant post.
Shortly after an hour, Unai brought Emery Watkins and Malen, which changed the game.
Watkins for the first time pulled out a foul by Jan Bednarek and won the punishment. Although Asensio’s point kick was brilliantly rescued, St Mary’s was calmed down when England International stuck his leg to lead Tieman’s long ball forward behind Ramsdale.
Donyell Malen doubled the advantage of Villa
Malen had the freedom of the south coast to fire a home less than five minutes later, causing mass exodus home fans who have become common in recent months.
Referee Thomas Bramall pointed to the place late when Jack Stephens caught McGinna in the box, and although Asensio was rejected again after a weak effort, McGinn was at hand to finish the work.
