12 April 2025
Southampton 0 Aston Villa 3
After having their relegation mathematically confirmed last weekend, the Southampton board opted to sack their manager. It just goes to show how clueless they truly are. This squad is nowhere near good enough to be mixing it up at these levels, yet they still think it is the man in charge that is at fault. In all fairness, even Harry Potter would struggle to get a tune out of this lot.
They welcomed Aston Villa to St Mary’s, probably hoping Unai Emery was going to rest his entire first team with a big Champions League tie against PSG fast approaching. That said, even a fringe team from the visitors would be too much for this sorry Saints side. Despite this, the fans arrived with a renewed confidence that things would change this week.
The first chance of the game fell to Archer for the hosts. From a tight angle, he got a shot away, but it was parried by Martinez. Cue pundits labelling him ‘the world’s best goalkeeper’ again. The reality is, the only way this statement would be true was if you got the twenty or so keepers who are actually better than him all on the same flight and crashed that plane, then he would be in with a shout.
Since that initial effort, the visitors started to boss the game. Fortunately for the hosts, Aston Villa were only able to create half chances. The highlight of the half was a shot from distance from Tielemans. He looked to bend it in the far corner but Ramsdale positioned himself well and gathered it into his chest with ease. This was by no means a classic on the south coast.
Apparently, the definition of stupidity is to do the same things over and over again expecting different results. The Saints have been guilty of this throughout the current campaign. You did not need a crystal ball to predict that, eventually, Aston Villa would create a clear-cut chance and put the hosts to the sword in this match. It was just a matter of when and not if.
After the interval, the visitors continued to probe the Southampton defence. Onana resorted to a long range effort but it was pushed away by Ramsdale in the bottom corner. He has been the one shining light for the already relegated side this campaign. If anything, you felt sympathy for the amount of goals he has been conceding as his defence are really not helping him.
The closest this game came to a goal in the first hour of play was when Bednarek got a glancing head to an Aston Villa corner. Ramsdale was rooted to the spot as the defender’s touch almost took it into the top corner of the goal. This seemed the tipping point for Emery who started to ring the changes, bringing some of his key players on to get this job done.
Immediately Watkins ran through on goal and Bednarek’s poorly-timed challenged brought the striker down. There was no hesitation from the referee as he pointed to the spot. Asensio stepped up to take it and his effort was well saved by Ramsdale to the huge roar from the St Mary’s crowd. They started to wonder whether their fortunes were finally going to change.
Those hopes did not last long as Tielemans clipped a ball forward. Watkins slid in to meet it on the volley and lift it over Ramsdale. It clipped the underside of the crossbar and went in. The goal was no more than Aston Villa had deserved, they were the only team who had looked like scoring in this game. Victory was integral to their hopes of Champions League qualification.
Moments later, Rogers threaded a pass into an unmarked Malen wide in the penalty area. He took one touch to steady himself before drilling a shot past Ramsdale into the far corner. All that could be heard at St Mary’s at this stage were the celebrations of the away fans. Doubling their lead, no one was in doubt that the three points were in the bag.
As the match headed into the final stages, the ground looked almost empty. The Southampton fans had swarmed to the exits as that second Villa goal went in. Fernandes had a shot from distance, which was well saved by Martinez in the bottom corner. As the resulting corner was recycled, a headed chance was sent wide of the target.
Deep into added time, a rash challenge gifted the visitors another penalty. Asensio stepped up to take and it was exactly the same outcome as Ramsdale saved again. However, McGinn reacted quickest to follow up and slot home to give the scoreline a convincing look. Victory took Emery’s side to seventh in the table but they are only three points behind fourth placed Nott’m Forest.
As for Southampton, this has been a painful adventure to endure. It is debatable as to whether the Titanic sunk quicker than The Saints have in the Premier League. They surprised many with their play-off final win last campaign but came into the top-flight completely unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead of them.
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