What We Learned – Southampton 6 Aston Villa 1

What We Learned – Southampton 6 Aston Villa 1 [VIDEO]

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Southampton eased to a 6-1 win at home to Aston Villa thanks, in part, to a record-breaking hat-trick from Senegalese winger Sadio Mané.

Scoring in the 13th, 14th and 16th minutes the contest was essentially all but over when Mané added his third after Villa’s calamitous opening.

Shane Long assisted two of Mané’s treble and added a brace himself, including a 25-yard gem, to expand the gap to five goals before Christian Benteke scored his 11th goal in ten games to save some face for a decimated Villa side.

Tim Sherwood’s men came out in the second-half with renewed defensive vigour and looked significantly more comfortable, although then facing an understandably lax Saints side. Graziano Pellè finished off the scoring in the 81st minute volleying home a cross from Mané completing the rout. The match stats showing that Villa were allowed to dominate possession but were unable to muster many meaningful attempts on goal.

The record

The first of Mané’s goals came from a lucky deflection off Shay Given’s save that blocked his initial shot, the ball rolling back into his path to prod into an empty net. His second again had a touch of fortune about it, with Ron Vlaar’s poor back pass being intercepted by Long who saw his saved effort again breaking to Mané to smash into an open goal. Mané’s third showcased his class with a well-placed shot finding the top corner from just inside the area after Long’s cutback.

Manager Ronald Koeman praised the Senegal international’s performance labelling it as incredible saying that a player of Mané’s quality will punish a team when given that sort of space.

The record for the fastest Premier League hat-trick formerly belonged to Liverpool’s Robbie Fowler for his 1994 feat but Mané’s effort bettered that by 96 seconds, notching up three goals in an impressive two minutes and 56 seconds.

Saints European aspirations

The convincing dismantling of an in-form Aston Villa team ends a streak of disappointing performances from a Southampton side looking to be competing in the UEFA Europa League next season. Unfortunately for the Saints fellow Europa League aspirants Tottenham Hotspur similarly broke their string of winless games with three points from a 2-0 win against Hull City.

With just a single round remaining the Saints sit a point behind the sixth placed Spurs. A challenging away game to Manchester City faces Ronald’s Koeman squad whereas Mauricio Pochettino’s team will be travelling to face Everton. Some solace offered to Saints fans will be their side’s superior goal difference should they end up on the same points total as Spurs.

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Villa’s fight for survival

Sherwood had little to smile about during the contest his side thoroughly beaten by a rampant Southampton team, even Benteke’s goal brought minute gladness to the despondent man in charge. The Villa boss was left to lament a dismal first-half display that saw his side come into the break with the game already practically over.

Tottenham’s win over Hull City confirmed that the Villans will be plying their trade in the top flight again next season, their recent flurry of points enough to get them over the line. The club’s continued Premier League presence sees them as one of only seven that are yet to be relegated since the competition’s formation, the others being Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool,  Manchester United and Tottenham.

The Lions will round out their season with a game at Villa Park against Championship bound Burnley followed by an FA Cup final date with Premier League high-fliers Arsenal, their first appearance at the final stage of the competition since 2000.

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