Southampton Beat Aston Villa 3-1

Southampton Beat Aston Villa 3-1

Ralph Hassenhuttl says his Southampton side will get a “lift mentally” after climbing out of the Premier League’s bottom three with a convincing win at Aston Villa.

The result sees the Saints move up a place to 17th, leapfrogging Villa who drop to 18th after a fourth consecutive defeat.

“It’s not June, it’s December but it gives us a lift mentally to see we can win,” Hassenhuttl said.

“We know it’s a tough race. This win gives us a lift not only out of the relegation zone but also mentally and is exactly what we need.”

Southampton arrived at Villa Park having been in the bottom three in seven of the last eight weeks but deserved their victory after controlling the game from start to finish.

Hassenhuttl’s team were assisted by some shambolic defending from Villa and Danny Ings’ two-goal contribution, as they registered their biggest win since their 3-1 victory over Wolves in April.

Ings opened the scoring, tapping in from close range after Shane Long’s initial effort was saved by Villa keeper Tom Heaton.

And Long could have added a second before Jack Stephens met James Ward-Prowse’s corner to double Saints’ lead with a towering header into the bottom right corner.

Ings punished Marvelous Nakamba’s loose control to add Southampton’s third after the break.

And while Jack Grealish’s superb effort flew into the top right corner for the hosts to reduce the arrears it was not enough to prevent Saints from claiming only their fifth win of the season.