Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton: Jhon Duran’s winner secures second win on the bounce for Villa who are catapulted up to fifth in the table as Saints misery goes on

Jhon Duran marked his first Premier League start of the season by shooting Aston Villa into a European spot at the expense of bottom-placed Southampton.

Unai Emery’s regular super sub was preferred to Ollie Watkins on this occasion with Tuesday’s Champions League game against Leipzig in mind and he took full advantage to capitalise on an error by Taylor Harwood-Bellis to fire home midway through the first half.

For Saints it was a familiar story of seeing a lot of the ball without troubling home goalkeeper Emi Martinez.

Winds more than 60mph gusted across Villa Park at kick off and Southampton’s first attempt at playing out from the back led to them conceding a corner in panic.

Conditions meant it took Villa a while to build momentum, but they did create half-chances with a Morgan Rogers shot deflected for a corner after 13 minutes and goalkeeper Joe Lumley racing from goal to get a vital touch as Duran raced through.

The breakthrough did come after 24 minutes when Harwood-Bellis failed to control a long ball and Duran seized on it and outpaced Nathan Wood into the penalty area.

The Colombia forward enjoys making a point on his first Premier League start of the season

It’s more misery for Saints boss Russell Martin whose side played well but without much threat

From there, the Colombian’s finish for his ninth goal of the season was emphatic. It was his first since late October in the EFL Cup against Crystal Palace but that had also been his last start.

Saints boss Russell Martin sent on Joe Aribo for James Bree at the interval and the visitors did look better balanced whilst still lacking a cutting edge.

To keep his side in charge, Emery made a quadruple change of his own shortly on the hour with Watkins among the big hitters to arrive.

Southampton looked better after bringing on Joe Aribo and James Bree (left) at half time

Ollie Watkins sees his path blocked by Nathan Wood as Aston Villa push for a second goal

Unai Emery rotated his side with one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League game against Leipzig

Another of the substitutes, Ross Barkley, quickly fired in a corner that Paul Torres met with a header that went narrowly over.

Southampton had to become more adventurous, and Cameron Archer had a shot charged down against his former club by Boubacar Kamara.

Lumley was almost deceived by the wind when John McGinn tried to pop in a second goal and Watkins’ was then denied by Nathan Wood attempting dink, but given Southampton’s shyness in front of goal, one always looked enough.