Premier League - James Ward-Prowse magic inspires Southampton in seven-goal thriller against Villa
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Updated 01/11/2020 at 14:25 GMT
Premier League, Villa Park - Aston Villa 3 (Mings 62, Watkins 90+3, Grealish 90+7), Southampton 4 (Vestergaard 20, Ward-Prowse 33, 45, Ings 58)
Southampton's English midfielder James Ward-Prowse (L) celebrates after scoring their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Southampton
Image credit: Getty Images
James Ward-Prowse scored two sublime first-half free-kicks as Southampton moved into third in the Premier League table with a thrilling 4-3 victory at Aston Villa.
The Saints midfielder marked his 26th birthday with an unforgettable display, doubling his side's lead with an outrageous free-kick from 25 yards out just past the half-hour mark after assisting Jannik Vestergaard's opener some 13 minutes earlier.
Ward-Prowse's second of the day - coming on the stroke of half-time - was a carbon copy of his first as he once again gave Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez no chance with a curling free-kick that ended up in the top left corner.
It could have been worse for Aston Villa as Southampton had the ball in the back of the Villa net with less than three minutes on the clock, with Ezri Konsa getting the final touch on Ward-Prowse's corner delivery, but the Villa defender's blushes were spared as Che Adams was adjudged to be in an offside position after a VAR check.
Southampton inflicted more misery after the restart as Danny Ings got in on the act with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area with less than an hour played. Unfortunately, the talisman was forced off with a worrying knee injury late on.
Tyrone Mings gave Villa a glimmer of hope by converting a lovely Jack Grealish cross and Oli Watkins' scored a stoppage-time penalty before Grealish himself got in on the act after seven added minutes, but it was too little too late as Dean Smith's men fell to a second successive defeat following the 3-0 loss to Leeds last weekend.
The victory extends Southampton's unbeaten run to five games and they move up to third in the table, three points behind leaders Liverpool, while Villa drop to seventh.
TALKING POINT - The Saints go marching on, as Ward-Prowse puts icing on the cake
This is a birthday Ward-Prowse won't forget in a hurry as he becomes the ninth player in Premier League history to score two direct free-kicks in a game. He also registered an assist and would have had another only for VAR to harshly rule out Konsa's own-goal. Ward-Prowse now has now scored seven direct free-kick goals for Southampton in the Premier League, equalling Matt Le Tissier as the player with the most for the club in the competition, and such a performance will surely capture the attention of England boss Gareth Southgate.
His talent has certainly not escaped Ralph Hasenhuttl, who has now won 14 away fixtures in the Premier League, equalling Ronald Koeman's club record tally. His high-tempo, high-pressing system has caught the imagination of everyone in the Premier League and Saints fans are right to harbour genuine ambitions of challenging the top six this season.
However, the lacklustre first-half performance from Villa was another dose of reality for Smith, whose defensive problems of last season seem to be resurfacing. Four wins from six games still represents a very good start, but Smith has work to do to recover his team's morale after back-to-back damaging defeats.
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Southampton's English midfielder James Ward-Prowse (R) celebrates after scoring their second goal during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Southampton
Image credit: Getty Images
MAN OF THE MATCH - James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)
Who else? The Saints midfielder reminded everyone of his qualities with two unforgettable free-kicks. He has been instrumental as Southampton continue their best start to a Premier League in many years.
PLAYER RATINGS
Aston Villa: Martinez 6, Cash 5, Konsa 5, Mings 6, Targett 6, McGinn 5, Luiz 5, Grealish 7, Barkley 6, Watkins 6, Traore N/A. Subs: Trezeguet 7, El Mohamady 6, Davis.
Southampton: McCarthy 7, Walker-Peters 7, Vestergaard 7, Bednarek 6, Bertrand 6, Armstrong 7, Romeu 7, Ward-Prowse 9, Walcott 7, Ings 8, Adams 7. Subs: Stephens 6, Long N/A, Diallo N/A.
KEY MOMENTS
20' - GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Southampton (Jannik Vestergaard): Southampton have the ball in the back of the net again - and there's no doubt about this one! It's a mismatch as McGinn is left to mark Vestergaard and he loses his marker to convert Ward-Prowse's free-kick delivery with a bullet header!
33' - GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Southampton (James Ward-Prowse): Oh my word, what a free-kick! The birthday boy Ward-Prowse lifts the ball over the wall and gets plenty of curl and dip in his shot to leave Martinez no chance as it ends up in the top corner!
45' - GOAL! Aston Villa 0-3 Southampton (James Ward-Prowse): He's done it again! This free-kick is arguably even more ridiculous! It's a bit closer to goal, but he manages to get enough height in his effort to lift it over the wall, and Martinez - once more - can do nothing as it ends up in the top left corner.
58' - GOAL! Aston Villa 0-4 Southampton (Danny Ings): What a strike from Ings! He peels off Cash, carves inside and unloads an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box!
62' - GOAL! Aston Villa 1-4 Southampton (Tyrone Mings): A glimmer of hope for Villa! Southampton make a mess of clearing a corner, it comes back to Grealish on the left and he stands up a delightful cross, finding Mings who finishes from point-blank range.
90'+1 - GOAL! Aston Villa 2-4 Southampton (Oli Watkins): Watkins sends McCarthy the wrong way to score another consolation for Villa.
90'+ 7 - GOAL! Aston Villa 3-4 Southampton (Jack Grealish): Villa have another one back! Surely it's too late?! A gorgeous curling effort from Grealish makes things really interesting!
KEY STATS
- Southampton have picked up 13 points from their opening seven Premier League games this season (W4 D1 L2); the Saints’ most at this stage of a campaign since 2014-15 (also 13).
- Since the start of last season, only Jamie Vardy (29) has scored more Premier League goals than Danny Ings (27), while no player has scored more from outside the box than Ings (5) in this period.
- Jannik Vestergaard has scored in each of his last two away games for Southampton in the Premier League, after netting none in his first 22 on the road in the competition.
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