Philippe Coutinho put on a stunning performance to help Aston Villa produce one of the comfortable football results of the weekend in the Premier League. Ollie Watkins opened the scoring in the ninth minute before Douglas Luiz doubled their advantage one minute before the break. Coutinho scored their third in the 52nd minute before Danny Ings rounded off the scoring in the 54th minute.
Player ratings
Aston Villa: Martinez (6), Young (6), Mings (6), Chambers (7), Cash (7), Ramsey (6), Luiz (7), McGinn (7), Watkins (8), Ings (8), Coutinho (9)
Subs: Sanson (6), Buendia (6), Bailey (6)
Southampton: Forster (7), Perraud (7), Stephens (6), Bednarek (6), Livramento (7), Romeu (6), Ward-Prowse (6), Elyounoussi (5), Armstrong (7), Adams (7), Broja (6)
Subs: Walker-Peters (6), Valery (6), Diallo (6)
Man of the match: Philippe Coutinho
Managers Reaction
Villa manager Steven Gerrard: “I thought at times, with all due respect to everyone else on the pitch, that he (Coutinho) showed a level that was above the game. He really showed his form of old and it was a pleasure to be in the stadium. I thought his quality was of a high level. He could have gone for goal himself but set Douglas Luiz up for a tap-in and that shows what type of team player we’re dealing with here.”
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl: “It was simply not good enough against a very aggressive home side. They wanted to turn things around at home and from the first moment, you could feel they wanted it more than they did. We’ve been on a good run, but this defeat is massive. Everything was not good enough today. In one game, all the bad things came together.”
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