Adam Armstrong strikes as Southampton pile pressure on Villa boss Dean Smith
Villa have not collected a single point since winning at Manchester United on September 25.
Adam Armstrong’s early strike was enough for Southampton to earn three points against Aston Villa and inflict a fifth consecutive loss to increase pressure on manager Dean Smith.
Villa have not collected a single point since winning at Manchester United on September 25 and this 1-0 reverse will only fan the flames of speculation regarding Smith’s position.
The travelling supporters at St Mary’s sang Smith’s name before kick-off but the away side were jeered off at the interval.
Both sides had plenty of chances in a game which saw Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men boss the first-half but survive scares in the second.
The winner came from Armstrong – his first goal at St Mary’s since his summer move – wearing the number nine jersey vacated after Danny Ings left for Villa as part of a fierce recruitment drive.
Ings was not fit to make a return to the south coast as Smith made three changes from the loss at West Ham last weekend, including a recall for captain Tyrone Mings.
Saints got this Bonfire Night fixture off to a bang, taking the lead with just three minutes on the clock.
Armstrong, without a goal since the opening day of the season, drove a fine strike past Emiliano Martinez after Matty Cash lost the flight of a seemingly harmless ball forward.
Villa responded as another expensive new singing Emiliano Buendia forced a low save out of Alex McCarthy.
Anwar El Ghazi also returned to the starting line-up for the visitors but shot wildly over from a decent angle as Villa at least started to get a foothold in the game.
The winger was arguably lucky to still be on the pitch at that stage having already been booked and taken a blatant dive in the penalty area not longer after.
Southampton were using the ball much better and skipper James Ward-Prowse drew a sprawling save out of Martinez just after the half-hour.
Oriol Romeu steered a strike just over the crossbar as Saints pushed for a second before the break.
For all of Villa’s newfound confidence, they were still reliant on Martinez to tip over a Che Adams header at the other end.
Ollie Watkins had been linking up the play without really getting a sniff of goal and the England striker shot wide with five minutes remaining.
That proved to be Villa’s last meaningful chance to grab something from a game in which they improved throughout.
But that will come as little comfort to Smith, whose players dropped to their haunches at the full-time whistle knowing that if results go against them, Villa could occupy a spot in the bottom three by the end of the weekend.