James Ward-Prowse scored two sublime first-half free-kicks as Southampton moved into third in the Premier League table with a thrilling 4-3 victory at Aston Villa.
The Saints midfielder marked his 26th birthday with an unforgettable display, doubling his side’s lead with an outrageous free-kick from 25 yards out just past the half-hour mark after assisting Jannik Vestergaard’s opener some 13 minutes earlier.
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Ward-Prowse’s second of the day – coming on the stroke of half-time – was a carbon copy of his first as he once again gave Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez no chance with a curling free-kick that ended up in the top left corner.
It could have been worse for Aston Villa as Southampton had the ball in the back of the Villa net with less than three minutes on the clock, with Ezri Konsa getting the final touch on Ward-Prowse’s corner delivery, but the Villa defender’s blushes were spared as Che Adams was adjudged to be in an offside position after a VAR check.
Southampton inflicted more misery after the restart as Danny Ings got in on the act with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area with less than an hour played. Unfortunately, the talisman was forced off with a worrying knee injury late on.
Tyrone Mings gave Villa a glimmer of hope by converting a lovely Jack Grealish cross and Oli Watkins’ scored a stoppage-time penalty before Grealish himself got in on the act after seven added minutes, but it was too little too late as Dean Smith’s men fell to a second successive defeat following the 3-0 loss to Leeds last weekend.
The victory extends Southampton’s unbeaten run to five games and they move up to third in the table, three points behind leaders Liverpool, while Villa drop to seventh.
