Summer signing Ashley Young was an unused substitute as Aston Villa lost five games on the bounce in the league thanks to the 1-0 defeat at the hands of hosts Southampton in a Premier League encounter played at the St. Mary’s Stadium on Friday.

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Ashley Young returned to Aston Villa for his second spell at the club as a free agent this summer. He signed for Villa on a free transfer in the summer at the end of his 18-month stay at Inter Milan. While he was with the Nerazzuri, Ashley Young won the Italian Serie A title. He was in the Inter squad that won the Scudetto under the guidance of manager Antonio Conte, recently appointed as the Spurs boss.

Young, 36, started the Southampton game on the substitutes’ bench and he was left on it for the entire duration of the whole game as Villa boss Dean Smith tried to plot a route back into the game for his team. He brought on the likes of Jacob Ramsey, Cameron Archer and Keinan Davies in the quest to rescue at least a point against the Saints. In the end, Smith and his Villa players were beaten by a lone goal which was scored at the start of the game.

Aston Villa failed to deal with a long ball and Adam Armstrong pounced to score a well taken strike in the third minutes with a half volley. It was reward for a vibrant start for the home side. Villa were much improved after restart but the damage had already been done in the first half.

With the result against Southampton, Aston Villa have now lost their last five games in the Premier League and they have ten points from eleven (11) matches in 15^th spot. Southampton, on the other hand, have moved up two places on the Premier League log to 12^th spot after a run of three wins and a draw from their last four matches in the competition. The victory over Villa made it three wins from four games for the Saints.