- Ryan Bertrand talks to Jonathan Liew
- Aston Villa v Southampton: match preview
- Jores Okore threatens to quit Villa
- Jim White: Tomkins' dive was an outrage
LATEST
ASTON VILLA V SOUTHAMPTON (KICK OFF 20.00 GMT)
Can Ronald Koeman's side keep their amazing run alive? Email your thoughts on this or anything else to george.cooper@telegraph.co.uk
47 mins Might have been 2-0 to Aston Villa but Agbonlahor's shot is blocked after a swift attack. Hutton then crosses for Weimann but he can't get enough on his header at the back post and Southampton clear the danger. Good start to the second half from Villa, playing with a little more belief.
46 mins Away we go in the second half.
Half-time Not the greatest game of football, but for Villa it's the result that counts and Lambert will not be unhappy. Villa spent most of the half defending but they struck when Forster misjudged a long ball to let Agbonlagor score. Lots of pressure from Southampton but no end product.
44 mins Pressure from Southampton and they win a free-kick 30 yards out. Schneiderlin takes, Villa clear.
42 mins Better from Villa as Clark gets his head to a free-kick but Schneiderlin stretches to clear. Sanchez has a crack from distance but it's into the stand.
40 mins Seventy-eight per cent possession for Southampton in the last 10 minutes. They trail 1-0. Four minutes until the break.
38 mins Fonte wins the header but it's straight at Guzan.
34 mins Brilliant save from Guzan to deny Mane's curling shot. That was heading for the bottom corner. Another well-worked attack from the away side - I'm not quite sure how they're behind. Now they have another corner.
32 mins Southampton respond by winning a corner, but it's cleared and Villa are on the attack.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1 (Agbonlahor) Southampton 0
Well would you believe it. Agbonlahor chases a long ball and knocks it past Forster to roll it into the empty net. A real misjudgment by the Southampton keeper, who looked favourite for it but hesitated. Agbonlahor's pace had been a threat - just about Villa's only threat - and it's led to the first goal. That'll settle the home side down.
27 mins
25 mins This is really dreadful from Villa so far. No intensity to their play at all and standing off Southampton. Saints first to every ball.
24 mins Westwood takes but it takes a deflection off the wall and barely troubles Forster. Think that may be the first time the Southampton keeper has touched the ball.
22 mins Brilliant from Agbonlahor. Running at the defence and winning a free-kick. Dangerous position too...
18 mins Southampton seeing so much of the ball around the edge of the penalty area but they can't find the pass to unlock the Villa defence. Home fans getting a little disgruntled already. Villa have spent most of the first 20 minutes inside their own half, only the pace of Agbonlahor is causing Southampton any trouble.
16 mins Bertrand breaks into the area after a lovely backheel from Pelle. He sets up Mane on the edge of the box but he screws his shot wide.
14 mins Wanyama crosses, Mane goes down under a challenge in the box - but he's offside. Southampton attacking with poise when they get the ball. Clyne in particular is seeing a lot of the ball at full-back and putting in some dangerous deliveries. It's all a little flat from Villa.
12 mins Villa win their first corner of the match. Southampton clear, Cleverley volleys it back into the crowd but it's blocked.
10 mins Wanyama shoots, over the bar. Southampton the better side early on, as you might expect.
8 mins Dangerous from Southampton. Mane crosses to Tadic at the back post, and his shot is deflected out for a corner. Villa scramble it away.
6 mins Now Southampton play it around in their own half. As they work it forward, Clyne tries to lob a cross into the box, awkward for Guzan who tips it over the bar. From the corner, Schneiderlin tries a side-footed volley but it's wide.
3 mins Early possession for Villa as Southampton sit deep. Very, very low key atmosphere at Villa Park. You can actually hear the players shouting, which is never a good sign. Agbonlahor tries to liven the crowd up but his shot on the edge of the area is blocked.
1 min Southampton kick-off.
20.00
19.58 A few minutes from kick-off and here's Lambert on Villa's current struggles: "We have to step up. The challenge is there for the team. We have to stop losing games. If you don't win games, the pressure is on you." He's nothing if not concise.
19.38
19.35 Don't forget you can email me at george.cooper@telegraph.co.uk with your thoughts on this match and the two sides. Paul Lambert seems pretty confident he can turn things around for Villa, but his record is not good. Since he joined the side from Norwich in 2012 he has won 30 of 99 games, losing 48 and drawing 21.
19.29
19.25
19.18 Team news to come soon. In the meantime we can all salute this superb overhead kick from Dion Dublin, for Villa against Southampton, at Villa Park in November 2003.
19.12 For Southampton, meanwhile - and to quote James from the Apprentice - the world is a big as your oyster. Saints have five straight wins in all competitions, sit second in the table, and a win tonight would put them within four points of league leaders Chelsea. This is Southampton's best start to a Premier League season, can they keep it going?
19.07 Evening folks, George here. If you're an Aston Villa fan, you may well be rather worried ahead of tonight's match at Villa Park, and with good reason. Villa have lost six of their last seven matches, and have scored just three goals at home all season. They sit one point above the relegation zone, and that 1-0 win at Liverpool earlier in the season seems a long, long time ago...
17.00 George will be here at 7pm with team news and build up from Villa Park. In the meantime here is Jonathan Liew's interview with Southampton full-back Ryan Bertrand.
From his very first day at Southampton, Ryan Bertrand could see there was something special brewing. He took a tour of the immaculate training facilities, looked around at his new team‑mates, watched manager Ronald Koeman at work, and immediately sensed that this was where he wanted to be.
“I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of good players in my time at Chelsea,” says Bertrand, who is on loan from Stamford Bridge until the end of the season. “The day I came to the club, when we were training, I had confidence in the team straight away. I knew that we could do good things.” The season may still be in its adolescence, but already that is looking like an understatement. As Southampton prepare for the game at Villa Park this evening they lie in a scarcely believable second place in the Premier League table. For Bertrand, the left-back signed to replace Luke Shaw in the summer, this is no surprise. As he puts it, this is a club with a “good base”, whose ideals match his.
When Bertrand talks of a “good base”, he means a number of things. Style of football is one. “It’s pointless me going to a place where they like to defend with 10 players behind the ball,” he says. “Although knowing that my task first and foremost is to defend, I like to be on the front foot, I like to attack, I like to express myself and get forward.”
But there is something else to it, too. Bertrand is an intelligent guy, a footballer with a soul, and what he sees at Southampton is a culture, an atmosphere, the sense of a club staying true to its roots even as it lurches into the future.
“If you refer to the fundamentals of the football club, with its fantastic history, it’s a club that off the field is financially sound,” he says. “The fans have been there for years, sell out the stadium near enough every game, and travel away. The club as a whole is a real family-orientated club. They really take care of the players and their families, because ultimately family life can have a big say in a player’s performance.”
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