Unai Emery believes his Aston Villa side have restored confidence after returning to Premier League glory against Brentford in midweek.
Prior to their win over the Bees on Wednesday, Villa were winless in eight games in all competitions before first-half goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash sealed an impressive victory.
The win moved Villa up to seventh in the table, four points behind the top four. Emery believes his team's latest result has given them a solid foundation to build on in the busy festive period as they prepare to face Southampton. Saturday.
“We have broken a period of poor results,” said the Villa boss. “We started the first five to ten minutes without control of the game, but gradually we controlled the game.
“Today we achieved those three points and that gave us confidence again, but even then it is not enough. We have to move on and think about the next game against Southampton on Saturday.
“The message was to try to concentrate on each match and forget about the table. How we can rebuild trust and feel comfortable at home. Wednesday was a fantastic match.”
I feel good pic.twitter.com/roBZN3K0zp
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 4, 2024
But at the other end of the table, Southampton suffered their 11th defeat of the season, losing 5-1 to Enzo Maresca's in-form Chelsea on Wednesday.
Saints came into the match without the likes of Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Tyler Dibling and Flynn Downes due to suspension, with Jack Stephens not helping their cause by picking up his second red card of the season after teasing Marc Cucurella at 3-1 down had pulled her.
Despite the result, head coach Russell Martin was proud of his team and is confident the return of suspended players will make the difference on Saturday.
“I am obviously very disappointed and hurt by the result,” Martin reflected. “But I am really proud of the players and I am very grateful to them for the way they played in the first half hour: an incredible number of chances in their penalty area and the incredible courage to get the ball.
“We have to put into perspective that we are currently playing against one of the best teams in the country with real attacking talent, but then of course we go back to ten men for over an hour. It's difficult against a team like that.
“As long as they keep giving us that, they'll give everything in some big moments, and then we have five big players ready to come back quickly, who were behind us and couldn't play, but who have been important for us.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins
Watkins has been involved in 10 goals in his last five Premier League appearances against promoted clubs, scoring four times and providing six assists.
He has also scored five goals in his last six home games in the Premier League, scoring a total of 36 goals at Villa Park. The only Villans player with more home goals than him is Dwight Yorke (37).
pic.twitter.com/qStg7CrQz5
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 4, 2024
Southampton – Adam Armstrong
Armstrong has scored two goals in his last three appearances on home soil but his struggles in front of goal have disappeared at St Mary's in the top flight.
He scored in his first ever away Premier League game for Southampton in August 2021 against Everton, but has since gone 32 away games without scoring, taking 51 shots with an expected goals total (xG) of 4.7 without finding the net in those games .
MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WINS
Villa have won their last three Premier League games against Southampton (all without conceding), more than in their previous thirteen games against Southampton (W2 D3 L8).
They are also unbeaten in their last six Premier League home games (W3 D3) and have scored 85 goals in 39 home games under Emery, the fourth highest number of home goals since Emery's first game at Villa Park in November 2022.
The Villans have won five of their last eight Premier League matches against sides who started bottom of the league (D2 L1), although their only defeat in this run came at Villa Park, where they lost 1-0 to West Ham in August 2022 .
After going unbeaten in six consecutive away games against Villa between 2013 and 2020, Southampton lost their last two visits by an aggregate score of 5-0.
Southampton are also winless in their last fourteen away games in the Premier League (D3 L11), since a 1-0 win over Chelsea in February 2023. No team has achieved fewer points in the top flight this season than Saints (one ).
They are the only team to have scored a first-half away goal in the Premier League this season. The Saints have also had the fewest shots (29) and fewest shots on target (five) in the first 45 minutes of away matches of any match. side of this campaign.
OPTA CHANCE OF WINNING
Aston Villa – 64.4%
Draw – 18.9%
Southampton – 16.8%
Comments