Russell Martin made clear there would be no rousing Churchillian team talk to try to transform Southampton’s ailing season and, frankly, maybe there is nothing anyone can do now to preserve their Premier League status.
They again had moments, as they so often do, usually courtesy of the prodigious 18-year-old Tyler Dibling, but the visitors, who have won once in the league all season, emerged from the wreckage empty-handed. Again, gallingly, for Saints, four points adrift at the bottom of the table, an individual error allowed the opposition to strike, Jhon Durán firing in to earn Aston Villa successive victories.
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