Southampton v Aston Villa LIVE: Saints to extend winning run to escape drop zone

The Premier League's bottom club have enjoyed an upturn in form with a vital victory against fellow strugglers Everton putting them level on points with the Toffees.

Advertisement

The Saints' impressive 2-1 comeback at Goodison Park came off the back of wins over Crystal Palace and Manchester City in both domestic cup competitions.

Villa will represent a formidable test to their good form having beaten Chelsea and Tottenham since Unai Emery took charge.

Southampton vs Aston Villa: talkSPORT coverage

Advertisement

This Premier League clash will take place on Saturday, January 21.

talkSPORT 2 will have live and EXCLUSIVE coverage of the game at St Mary's, with kick-off scheduled for 3pm.

Commentary will then come from Nigel Adderley and former Arsenal and Southampton winger Perry Groves.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

Advertisement

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Advertisement

Southampton vs Aston Villa: Team news

The hosts will hope to welcome back trio Theo Walcott, Alex McCarthy and Armel Bella-Kotchap to ease their injury concerns.

Advertisement

Juan Larios and Valentino Livramento both remain long-term absentees, but new signing Carlos Alcaraz could make his first start.

The visitors meanwhile are expected to be without Danny Ings as he closes in on a switch to West Ham so Ollie Watkins will lead the line.

Leander Dendoncker is back from suspension but Jan Bednarek cannot play against his parent club and will therefore miss out.

Lucas Digne's shoulder issue has seen him join Diego Carlos, captain John McGinn, Jed Steer and Ludwig Augustinsson on the sidelines.

Advertisement

Southampton vs Aston Villa: What has been said?

Jones hailed the importance of the win over Everton last time out but wants the victory to be a springboard to build momentum.

He said: "It is vital today, one not to lose because Everton go away from here and we wanted to pull them back in.

Advertisement

"But there is a long way to go yet. I think there are 18 or 19 games to go which is a lot of points, a lot of points, but we just need to keep building momentum."

Southampton vs Aston Villa: Match facts

Emiliano Buendía has scored two goals in his last three Premier League games, as many as he had in his previous 20. Five of his seven league goals for Aston Villa have ended up being the winning goal of the game, with the other two being equalisers in 1-1 draws.

Southampton's James Ward-Prowse has scored four goals in his last four Premier League games, including both strikes in Saints' 2-1 win against Everton last time out. He's been involved in five Premier League goals against Aston Villa (2 goals, 3 assists), only having a hand in more against Tottenham (8) and Crystal Palace (6).

Southampton have had just 69 shots on target in 19 Premier League games this season, with their average of 3.6 per game their lowest on record in a single campaign in the competition (since 1997-98).

Aston Villa have won 13 points in their six Premier League games under Unai Emery so far (W4 D1 L1), one more than they had in 13 games under Steven Gerrard/Aaron Danks this season (W3 D3 L7). The Villans have also scored as many goals in six games under Emery, than in the 13 before his arrival (11).

Aston Villa are looking to win three consecutive Premier League away games for the first time since November 2020, while Unai Emery could become the first manager to win his first three on the road in charge of the Villans since John Gregory in 1998.

Southampton have lost their last three Premier League home games, last losing four in a row at St Mary's in November 2019. Indeed, Saints have won fewer home points than any other side in the Premier League this term (6).

Southampton picked up their first Premier League win of 2023 at Everton last time out. Having also beaten Man City in the League Cup and Crystal Palace in the FA Cup before this, Saints are looking to win four consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since September 2016 under Claude Puel.

This is Aston Villa's third Premier League game against a side starting the day bottom of the table this season, with the Villans so far winless in their previous two (0-1 vs West Ham, 1-1 vs Nottingham Forest).

Aston Villa have won just one of their last five away league games against Southampton (D1 L3), a 1-0 win in January 2021 with a goal from Ross Barkley.

Southampton have lost their last two Premier League matches against Aston Villa, last losing three in a row between April 1998 and April 1999.

Keep up to date with all the latest news, rumours and gossip with our LIVE transfer blog