Jack’s high as Villa end Saints hoodoo
JACK GREALISH conjured the magic that made Villa’s awful record against Southampton finally disappear.
The Villa captain created the only goal for Ross Barkley as the battle of the mid-table sliders went the way of Dean Smith’s men – though Saints had a Danny Ings stoppage-time goal ruled out when VAR harshly ruled him offside by a whisker.
Villa had not beaten last night’s opponents in nine meetings, stretching back almost eight years, but it was skipper Grealish’s superb cross for Barkley to head home that proved the decisive moment.
Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl had made three changes from the side beaten 3-1 at home by Arsenal – bringing in Ryan Bertrand, Oriol Romeu and Nathan Redmond.
Villa boss Smith reacted to his own team’s defeat to Burnley with more caution, sticking with the same line-up. That meant his new £15.5m signing from Marseille, Morgan Sanson, was on the bench.
Villa did well early on and they created an early chance when Barkley slid in Ollie Watkins, but the striker screwed his shot wide.
When Saints did click into gear, though, they felt aggrieved they were not given a chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot.
Ings’ sharp turn set up Stuart Armstrong and his shot was blocked by the arm of Matty Cash. The call went to VAR but the handball appeared to be ruled out by a marginal offside decision against Ings.
When Bertrand exposed more space in the Villa defence, it was a wonder they did not go ahead but no team-mates were able to apply the finishing touch.
Villa’s only threat appeared to be the occasional flicker from Grealish, wide on the left, but he was usually an isolated figure.
Gradually, though, they began to look stronger – usually sparked by the ingenuity of their skipper – and they went ahead four minutes before the break through Barkley.
Moments earlier a quick throw to Grealish had sparked confusion in the home defence and a Watkins shot was palmed away by Alex Mccarthy.
The next time Grealish intervened, the keeper could do nothing. Matt Targett clipped a pass into Grealish’s path and the
Villa talisman half-volleyed an inviting cross into the Saints’ goalmouth which Barkley nodded firmly downwards past Mccarthy.
It was his fourth goal of the season, but his first since October, and it could have prompted even better things for Smith’s side before the break if Mccarthy had not got down sharply to a shot from Watkins.
James Ward-prowse hit the wall with an inviting chance from a free-kick late on but the real drama was saved for the 94th minute.
Ings thought he had rescued a point but the VAR check showed his left arm to be offside by a matter of millimetres.