Aston Villa 3 – 4 Southampton Sunday 1st November KO 16:00
James Ward-Prowse had only scored once this season, but the England midfielder made it to 3 goals for the season against Aston Villa with two set-pieces to give The Saints three points away from home.
Ward-Prowse is only the ninth player in Premier League history to score two free-kicks in the same game. He joins the likes of Christian Eriksen to score two free-kicks in a single game and Eriksen was the latest to score two set-pieces in the Premier League against Swansea in 2015.
Southampton started positively and dominated possession at the start and it was the birthday boy, Ward-Prowse, who not only scored twice but also set up the first from a set-piece that Jannik Vestergaard headed past Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the 20th minute.
Not long after the first goal, Ward-Prowse curled an excellent free-kick from 25 yards out that the Martinez, the Villa keeper had no chance to save. To finish the first-half, Southampton earned another free-kick a little bit closer than the previous and Ward-Prowse stepped up and placed it in the back of the net again. Ward-Prowse finished the first-half with one assist and two goals and his side 0-3 up.
Danny Ings knocked in a suburb strike on the 58th minute to give The Saints a 0-4 lead away from home.
Aston Villa did not get into the game as Southampton dominated from start to finish. Tyrone Mings did get a goal back with a header from a Jack Grealish cross in the 62nd minute.
Villa did get two late goals, both in the 90th minute with a penalty from Ollie Watkins and Grealish scoring a deflected strike.
The late goals seemed to show it was a closer game than it was, but in truth, it was a game dominated by Southampton. More of a problem for Southampton was Danny Ings going off with a knee injury and for Southampton fans, you hope it is not a serious injury.
Southampton moves up to 3rd in the table after winning four of their last five games and after a fast start, Villa has lost two on the bounce.