Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton: Jhon Duran’s winner secures second win on the bounce for Villa who are catapulted up to fifth in the table as Saints misery goes on

Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton: Jhon Duran’s winner secures second win on the bounce for Villa who are catapulted up to fifth in the table as Saints misery goes on

On his first Premier League start of the season, Jhon Duran is the hero. Southampton had a lot of possession but is unable to prevent their 12th loss of the year.
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In his first Premier League start of the season, Jhon Duran helped Aston Villa defeat Southampton, who were in last place, and secure a European berth.

With Tuesday’s Champions League match against Leipzig in mind, Unai Emery’s go-to super substitute was selected above Ollie Watkins on this particular occasion. He took full advantage of a mistake made by Taylor Harwood-Bellis to score halfway through the first half.

Seeing a lot of the ball without bothering home goalie Emi Martinez was a familiar tale for the Saints.

The first time Southampton tried to play out from the back, they gave up a corner in fear as winds exceeding 60 mph gusted across Villa Park before kickoff.

After 13 minutes, a Morgan Rogers shot was deflected for a corner, and keeper Joe Lumley rushed from goal to have a crucial touch as Duran raced through. Despite the difficult conditions, Villa managed to create half-chances.

The breakthrough did occur after twenty-four minutes, when Duran grabbed a long ball that Harwood-Bellis had failed to control and beat Nathan Wood into the penalty box.

The Colombian scored his tenth goal of the season with a decisive finish from there. In the EFL Cup match against Crystal Palace, it was his first since late October, but it was also his final start.

At halftime, Saints manager Russell Martin substituted Joe Aribo for James Bree, and although the visitors appeared more evenly distributed, they lacked a creative edge.

Watkins was one of the major hitters to arrive, but Emery made a quadruple change of his own just on the hour to keep his team in control.

Soon after, Ross Barkley, another substitute, fired into a corner, which Paul Torres met with a header that just missed.

Southampton needed to be more daring, and Boubacar Kamara charged down a shot against Cameron Archer’s old team.

Given Southampton’s timidity in front of goal, one always looked good enough, but Lumley was nearly fooled by the wind when John McGinn attempted to pop in a second goal, and Watkins’ was then stopped by Nathan Wood’s dink effort.

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez 6: Konsa 7, Carlos 6, Torres 6, Maatsen 6 (Digne 59, 6); Kamara 6.5, Tielemans 5.5 (Barkley 59, 7); Bailey 6 (Philogene 59, 6.5), Rogers 6.5, McGinn 7; Duran 7.5 (Watkins 59, 5.5)

Subs unused: Olsen, Cash, Mings, Buendia, Onana

Goal: Duran 24

Manager: Unai Emery 6

Southampton (5-3-2): Lumley 5.5: Bree 5.5 (Aribo 45, 6.5), Harwood-Bellis 5, Wood 5, Walker-Peters 6, Manning 5 (Sulemana, 90); Dibling 7, Downes 6 (Brereton-Diaz, 79), Fernandes 6; Armstrong 5.5, Archer 6 (Amo-Ameyaw 73, 6)

Subs unused: McCarthy, Edwards, Sugawara, Taylor, FraserBooked: Downes, Wood

Manager: Russell Martin 6

Referee: Darren Bond 7

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