Dave Woodhall sees Villa comfortably win at Southampton.
Back in the depths of 2016, when Villa had been beaten 6-0 at home by Liverpool Jurgen Klopp, while he was still reasonably human, said, “It is not a day to sing songs.” What he meant was that he wasn’t going to gloat about beating a team that was at rock bottom. Those things happened a lot that season.
Maybe that was why there wasn’t any great cause for celebration after beating Southampton. They’re on course for the lowest Premier League points total, they’re likely to get less points than we managed in that godforsaken season and Villa didn’t so much not have to get out 
of second gear to win, they barely had to turn on the engine. It was a big three points given we’re in the middle of a Champions League quarter-final and it won’t have taken much out of the players but that apart, there wasn’t reason for gloating.
There were a few changes but not as many as there might have been and as has been the case recently the quality on the bench was enough to settle any nerves. Cameron Archer had an early chance saved by Emiliano Martinez but that was just about the sum total of the home side’s attacking threat.
At the other end Marco Asensio should have done better with a shot from outside the area while Youri Tielemans brought out a couple of good saves from a Southampton keeper who should already have been looking for a bonus in his wages. But it was still goalless at half-time and as is often the case in such situations, the big question during the interval was when the cavalry would be sent on.
The answer was midway through the second half, with Donyell Malen and Ollie Watkins replacing Jacob Ramsey and Marcus Rashford. As the risk of sounding repetitive I’m still shaking my head in wonder at how that can be possible.
They had an immediate effect within a couple of minutes with Watkins brought down in the box for a stonewall penalty. Marco Asensio’s effort was saved but no matter, because almost immediately Tielemans found Watkins, whose first-time chip went over the keeper, off the bar and into the net.
It then didn’t take long for Morgan Rogers to drive forward and lay off to Malen, who lashed the ball home for Villa’s second, and if it had come any earlier we might have seen the sort of final score that sees what the press describe as’angry scenes’ in the vicinity of the directors’ box. As it was, most Southampton supporters seemed reigned to defeat and either went home or saw out the game in silence.
There was time for a few more substitutes to have a run-out and one of them, John McGinn, was brought down in added time for Asensio’s second penalty of the game. If anything it was poorer than his first but McGinn reacted quickest and a bit of history was made when for the first time in Premier League history the same team had three subs scoring. Up to fifth and the form side out of the Champions League contenders. And so onto the next challenge.
