Southampton 0 Aston Villa 1

Ollie Watkins scores late headed winner as Saints fume over Ward-Prowse disallowed goal

THE Unai Emery era at Aston Villa is alive and kicking. 

The Spanish boss became the first Villa manager to win his first three away games in charge of the club since John Gregory in 1998.

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Ollie Watkins headed in Aston Villa’s winner

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It was his fourth of the Premier League season

PA
Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse thought he had scored but it was ruled out by VAR

Ollie Watkins’ 77th minute winner meant the West Midlanders have now clocked up a staggering 16 points since Emery’s first game.

You couldn’t help but feel for struggling Saints who had TWO goals disallowed at St Mary’s. 

The first was a Kyle Walker-Peters tap due to being offside and then James Ward-Prowse was denied in the second-half by VAR drama. 

The first incident involved Che Adams scooping up a mouth-watering ball in from Lyanco and scuffing a shot which rolled just towards goal. 

Kyle Walker-Peters then snaffled it up to make sure the ball was smashed home, but was offside – although replays actually showed Adams was just offside too. 

Aston Villa had their turn as a blistering passing sequence between Leon Bailey to Emiliano Buendia saw the Argentine sting the hands of Gavin Bazunu before Bailey blazed over the rebound.

Home fans were serenaded to a rendition of “Danny Ings, he left cos you’re s***”. 

Oh the irony just days after the striker jumped ship from Villa Park to join West Ham for an undisclosed fee understood to be around £12m.

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And Saints were well in their right to sing it right back as both sides plodded through the first-half and cried out for a lethal hitman like Ings.

The most dramatic moment before the break was when play was stopped due to a drone attack.

Players were taken off the pitch on the 42nd minute due to “safety” reasons the flying object posed and police came out on the sidelines. 

But the game was resumed only three minutes later as the drone probably decided the match had been too dull to stick around. 

The second-half picked up where it left off, producing another snore-fest and no clear cut chances. 

On the hour mark Nathan Jones had seen enough and made three changes with Sekou Mara, Mohamed Elyounoussi and Romain Perraud entering the fray for Che Adams, Romeo Lavia and Samuel Edozie.

It did the trick as James Ward-Prowse teed up Adam Armstrong whose low drive forced a blinding save from Emiliano Martinez’s outstretched foot. 

Saints hit back again this time Kyle Walker-Peters’ cross eventually bobbling over to Ward-Prowse who lashed it home thanks to a heavy deflection off Ezri Konsa.

All Martinez could do was flap his fingertips helplessly as it flew over him on 63 minutes amid the desperate scramble. 

Villa weren’t happy as Mohamed Elyonoussi appeared to catch Jacob Ramsey’s ankle in the build up, sparking a nail biting VAR check.

The goal was then chalked off and referee Michael Salisbury got an earful from seething Saints fans.

It looked harsh on the home side and Villa only twisted the knife in. 

They responded with a free-kick floated in by Douglas Luiz to Watkins who flicked it coolly into the bottom corner.

There was more VAR drama as the goal was checked for offside, but it stood, sparking a roar of “we’ve got super Unai Emery” from the travelling Lions.

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