REPORT: Southampton 2 Aston Villa 1

Southampton put in a competent performance to see Aston Villa off at St Mary’s. After a dull first half, Maya Yoshida gave Saints the lead before Graziano Pellè added a second. Scott Sinclair pulled a goal back with a late penalty, but it will be Southampton who face Liverpool in the quarter-final.

Ronald Koeman took a somewhat risky decision in making seven changes to his starting line-up; a tactic that his predecessor Mauricio Pochettino employed to the ire of Saints fans. Nevertheless, he presented an opportunity to fringe players Steven Caulker, Gastón Ramírez and Juanmi. Meanwhile, Villa caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald made five switches with Jordan Amavi and Carlos Sánchez amongst those who earned a starting berth.

In the opening stages of the game, the visitors saw a lot of the ball, as they attempted to utilise an expansive game to perturb Southampton’s changed defence. Caulker was struggling to cope with this, as Rudy Gestede imposed himself as he won a couple of headers, however Maarten Stekelenburg was untroubled. This only changed in the 35^th minute. Leandro Bacuna managed to turn away from Matt Targett who failed to slide in and win the ball, before playing a one-two with Ashley Westwood on the right side of the box, and hit a fierce shot, but Stekelenburg turned it behind for a corner. As the ball was delivered, Ciaran Clark had a free header, but the centre-back sent it well wide of the target.

With a much changed team, Southampton were unable to carve open any opportunities in the first period, as their play was severely disjointed. Targett found it difficult to contain Bacuna and Alan Hutton, and was unable to join Juanmi on the left wing, and while Yoshida is a dependable option at right-back, he was always unlikely to regularly assist Ramírez in putting crosses into the box. Ramírez and Juanmi showed good touches on the ball, but were not providing any real cutting edge. Meanwhile, James Ward-Prowse barely touched the ball occupying the No 10 role, and as such the defensive and attacking midfield were not working well together. In fact, it was the visitors who nearly scored right on half-time. A corner was curled in towards the back post, and it was met by Gestede who had lost Caulker, but the targetman could only head tamely towards Stekelenburg, and the Dutchman blocked the attempt.

Koeman most likely put his opinion across in no uncertain terms regarding the first-half display, and Southampton returned with renewed vigour. In the early stages of the second period, Pellè and Ward-Prowse combined well, before the Italian hit a shot which struck a Villa player before looping over Brad Guzan, and just beyond the far post. Minutes later, Saints were in front. Yoshida played a short pass into Ramírez, before receiving the ball from the Uruguayan, cutting inside and slamming a superb low drive into the bottom corner. Villa replied as Westwood and Gabby Agbonlahor both had efforts that Stekelenburg needed to contend with, but Saints were becoming sharper as the game went on. Pellè’s hold up play was much improved from the first half, and Oriol Romeu was orchestrating the midfield well as he controlled the play.

With 20 minutes remaining, Dušan Tadić and Steven Davis replaced Juanmi and Ramírez, and the two substitutes combined well for what proved to be the winning goal in the 77^th minute. Davis clipped a beautiful long ball to Tadić on the left wing who found Pellè with an expertly dinked pass – the striker peeled off Clark to emphatically volley low past Guzan. Villa did manage to find a consolation goal in added time though. Jordan Ayew drifted past Targett with ease before Van Dijk tripped him – Sinclair slotted the penalty into the corner, but Southampton progressed to the next round of the competition.

Man of the Match

Oriol Romeu: The holding midfielder outshone Victor Wanyama as he returned to the team. Not only a tough tackler, the Spaniard has an eye for a pass, and he has proved himself to be a dependable option for Koeman if called upon.

Teams and Ratings

Southampton

Stekelenburg 7 – Yoshida 7, Caulker 6, Van Dijk 6, Targett 5 – Romeu 7, Wanyama (C) 6 – Ramírez 6 (S. Davis 69’ 7), Ward-Prowse 4, Juanmi 6 (Tadić 69’ 7) – Pellè 6

Goals: Yoshida (51’), Pellè (77’)

Aston Villa

Guzan 6 – Hutton 6, Crespo 6, Clark 6, Richardson 6 – Sánchez 6, Westwood 6 – Bacuna 6 (Ayew 63’ 6), Agbonlahor (C) 5, Amavi 7 (Grealish 63’ 5) – Gestede 7 (Sinclair 72’ 6)

Goals: Sinclair pen. (90’+4)