Southampton 1-0 Aston Villa

Aston Villa suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Southampton at St Mary’s on Friday night.

The match-winning moment arrived inside the opening three minutes when Adam Armstrong’s drive beat Emiliano Martínez.

Backed by a raucous away end, Villa came close on several occasions through Anwar El Ghazi and Emiliano Buendía.

But despite their second-half dominance, the visitors were handed a fifth consecutive Premier League defeat.

Southampton came into the match with plenty of confidence after putting together a three-game unbeaten run, and they took the lead with less than three minutes on the clock.

A hopeful ball forward from James Ward-Prowse hit a backpedalling Matty Cash and sat up nicely for Armstrong, who lashed a first-time shot past the helpless Martínez.

Buendía fired in a fierce shot from the edge of the box as Villa looked to hit back before Stuart Armstrong somehow spurned the chance to make it 2-0 after nine minutes, blazing over from close range when he came in unmarked at the back post from a corner.

Restored to the starting line-up for a league game for the first time since August, El Ghazi was proving the visitors’ most threatening attacker. And after a neat one-two with Buendía, the winger shrugged off Valentino Livramento and burst into the box before curling a shot over the bar.

The hosts’ attacking play was running through skipper Ward-Prowse, who was content to pull the strings from deep for the majority of the first half before highlighting his ability with a long-range drive that stung the fingertips of Martínez.

Villa raced out of the blocks at the start of the second half and applied sustained pressure to the home goal in the opening minutes via two efforts apiece from El Ghazi and Buendía.

The dynamic of the game had shifted and the away side were firmly in the ascendency, but on a rare Saints’ attack Martínez had to be on his guard to tip Che Adams’ header over the crossbar.

Dean Smith introduced Jacob Ramsey, Cameron Archer and Keinan Davis in search of a goal, but the home side were determined to frustrate Villa in any way they could.

As the game moved into the final 10 minutes, Ollie Watkins pulled a shot wide as his side toiled unsuccessfully for an equaliser.