Oriol Romeu extends Aston Villa's winless run as Southampton get draw

Oriol Romeu sparked a second-half rally for Southampton at St Mary's as Aston Villa set an unwanted club record of 14 league games without a win.

The Spaniard, having replaced Victor Wanyama on 63 minutes, converted an in-swinging James Ward-Prowse corner to spare Ronald Koeman's men the embarrassment of losing to the Premier League's bottom club.

Villa took a shock lead on the stroke of half-time when Joleon Lescott, captaining the side in the absence of the injured Micah Richards, tapped in his first goal in almost a year from Jordan Veretout's corner.

Southampton had missed a host of chances prior to Lescott's opener and failed to turn their second-half pressure into a winner, though Romeu's strike ensured they did avoid becoming only the second team to lose to Villa this season.

The result leaves Remi Garde's men rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, six points adrift of safety, while Southampton are now five points away from a Europa League spot.

2' - CHANCE: Villa's defence looks very shaky very early and after Mane breezes past Bacuna on the left and pulls the ball back for Tadic, who curls the ball over when it seems easier to hit the target.

16' - CHANCE: Tadic drifts out to the right flank and curls a high cross to the back post that Mane controls on his chest before lashing a shot well over from a promising position.

19' - CHANCE AFTER CHANCE: How are Southampton not well ahead? Guzan weakly punches Ward-Prowse's first corner delivery straight to Fonte, whose low shot is cleared off the line by Gestede, before Ward-Prowse's second in-swinger finds Mane unmarked at the back post, but the Senegal international heads over from close range.

28' - CHANCE: Veretout drives down the right before picking out Gestede in the Southampton penalty area with a low cross, but the former Blackburn Rovers man hits nothing but air as he tries to shoot. Good opportunity.

33' - CHANCE: Mane races onto a long ball into the right channel before hooking a cross in first-time, but Pelle can only head weakly straight at Guzan.

44' - GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Aston Villa. After all those missed Southampton chances the visitors lead! A Veretout corner from the left runs right through to Lescott, who has escaped the attentions of Fonte, and the former Manchester City man taps in from a yard out. Ronald Koeman looks livid.

70' - CHANCE: A superb pass with the outside of his foot by Davis sets Juanmi running at the Villa defence and the Spaniard's low shot stings the palms of Guzan.

73' - GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Aston Villa. The hosts are finally level with a goal that almost identically mirrors Villa's opener. Ward-Prowse's corner drifts over everyone to the back post where Romeu manages to wrestle free of Sanchez and poke the ball in.

80' - CHANCE: Sanchez clips a nothing ball into the Southampton box and Westwood is the only man to react, but the Englishman's left-footed shot is sliced well wide.

- Aston Villa have now equalled York City with the longest current winless run in the top four tiers of English football (14 matches).

- His 73rd minute equaliser was Oriol Romeu's first goal in a competitive match since September 25, 2012, when he scored in Chelsea's 6-0 rout of Wolves in the League Cup.

Is there any hope for Aston Villa? No team with so few points at this stage of the season has ever survived in the Premier League. This is the knowledge Aston Villa's players take to the field with every week now, so it's heartening to see that it hasn't yet beaten them down to the point of giving up. They might have been 3-0 down inside 15 minutes at St Mary's had Southampton not been spectacularly generous with their finishing, and it's genuinely astonishing that a back four of Alan Hutton, Jores Okore, Joleon Lescott and Leandro Bacuna came so close to keeping a clean sheet against a competent Premier League team.

But Villa weathered the storm and took their only chance of the first half when it came, Lescott rolling back the years to capitalise on Southampton's set-piece confusion with a simple finish. The goal gave them confidence and for much of the second half Remi Garde's men competed on equal terms, creating decent opportunities with rapid counterattacks. The Frenchman has presided over marginal improvement from the Tim Sherwood era and will be disappointed that Southampton eventually equalised with almost a carbon copy of Villa's opener.

It's 14 league games without a win now and six points between Villa and safety. Yet there were positives for Garde - Lescott staked his claim for a regular starting spot and Jordan Ayew impressed in flashes - and this most unpredictable of Premier League seasons should in itself give him hope of orchestrating a miraculous escape.

Joleon Lescott (Aston Villa) Captain for the day, he did his best to marshall a makeshift and very limited Villa backline, leading by example with countless interceptions and clearances as Southampton unleashed a barrage of crosses. Even managed to nip in on the stroke of half-time to score his first goal in almost a year and defended with assurance and vigour thereafter. Looks to be Villa's best defender by a distance, even if that isn't saying much.

Southampton: Stekelenburg 6; Cedric 6, Fonte 5, Van Dijk 6, Bertrand 7; Wanyama 6, Ward-Prowse 7; Davis 7, Mane 7, Tadic 5; Pelle 5. Subs: Romeu 7, Juanmi 6, Long 6.

Aston Villa: Guzan 7; Hutton 6, Okore 5, Lescott 7, Bacuna 5; Veretout 7, Sanchez 6, Gueye 6; Ayew 7, Gestede 6, Sinclair 6. Subs: Richardson 6, Westwood 6, Agbonlahor 6.