Aston Villa v Southampton: Friday night fun from Villa Park

Villa keep champions at bay

Aston Villa return to action for the first time on Friday following a hard-earned point against reigning champions Manchester City here almost a fortnight ago.

Steven Gerrard's group fought back from a goal down to earn a share of the spoils at Villa Park, easing the pressure after suffering four defeats in their opening five Premier League matches of the season.

After frustrating goal juggernaut Erling Haaland in the first half, with the Norwegian only touching the ball 10 times, Villa fell behind after 50 minutes as Haaland showed his class to volley home from Kevin de Bruyne's excellent cross.

City threatened to run away with the game from there, only for Emiliano Martinez and the woodwork keeping the Villains alive.

Leon Bailey, with Villa's only shot on target, equalised by firing into the top corner from Jacob Ramsey's pass and Villa thought they had won it when Philippe Coutinho put the ball in the net, only for an offside earlier in the move to rule out the goal. Nevertheless, Gerrard piled on the praise for his players post-match after picking up a precious point.

He said: "I'm very proud - the players have come together. They put an incredible amount of effort into the game, followed instructions. City are always going to have moments and we had to ride our luck, but this is what we wanted out of the game and this is the game plan we gave them. I was really happy with the response and the body language of the players."

Matty Cash and Diego Carlos are confirmed absentees for Aston Villa. New signings Leander Dendoncker and Jan Bednarek will both hope to be involved.

Southampton wayward in Wolves defeat

Despite registering just one shot on-target against Wolves in their last Premier League outing 13 days ago, Southampton felt bitterly disappointed not to have salvaged a point from the Molineux match-up.

Saints suffered a 1-0 reverse but twice went agonisingly close to cancelling out Daniel Podence's opener in the second half.

Che Adams was left with what appeared to be a simple finish when Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa parried Joe Aribo's cross into the striker's path, but the former Birmingham frontman somehow managed to nod the ball against his own arm in the process of bundling it over the line and the goal was chalked off. Adams was denied by the crossbar soon afterwards.

Head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl could not hide his frustration at full time, saying Adams "knows" he should have restored parity in the second half and suggesting his side could have gone on to win the game if Adams' effort had stood. Instead, Saints were left to ponder what might have been after slipping to a third defeat of the campaign.

Speaking post-match, Hasenhuttl said: "We had good chances to take something. That we don't score today is normally not possible. It's 20 minutes to go and if we equalise, I would like to see what happens then. We created some good moments in the first half but we were really good in the second half and we really stressed them. We cannot demand more."

Southampton named deadline day signings Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Samuel Edozie and Juan Larios on the bench, whilst Duje Caleta-Car also comes into the fold following his move from Marseille. Romeo Lavia and Tino Livramento are unavailable through injury.

Villa favoured by the market

Aston Villa have tabled triumphs in two of their last three Premier League meetings with Southampton (W2-D0-L1), having registered a solitary success in their previous 11 encounters with the Saints (W1-D3-L7).

The Villains were 4-0 victors in this exact fixture in March, a win that ended a six-game home winless streak against Southampton (W1-D2-L4).

Aston Villa 2.1211/10 have managed to take top honours only once in their past 10 Premier League outings (W1-D3-L6) - earlier this term when welcoming Everton. And under Steven Gerrard's stewardship, the hosts have registered only five home triumphs in 17 Villa Park league dates (W5-D5-L7), recording just three clean sheets in that same sample.

Southampton 3.8514/5 have alternated between victory and defeat in their last four Premier League games, with their two wins in this run more than they'd managed in their previous 14 beforehand (W1-D3-L10). However, the Saints are often playing catch-up having conceded the opening goal in each of their last five league encounters (W2-D1-L2).

Goals on the agenda

Neither Aston Villa, nor Southampton, have silenced an opposition outfit in 2022/23 and with eight of the duo's combined 10 Premier League tussles paying-out for Both Teams To Score backers, a repeat holds plenty of appeal at 1.768/11. Over 2.5 Goals is an alternative option at 1.8810/11 having landed in seven of those aforementioned 10 early season contests.

BTTS has provided profit in 10/17 (59%) of Aston Villa's home league fixtures under Steven Gerrard - the hosts scoring in 13 of those showdowns - and the same wager has been successful 14/22 (64%) of Southampton's road trips going back to the beginning of last term; Saints managing to keep their sheets clean on only two occasions.

Meanwhile, Betfair are giving punters a completely free £2 free Bet Builder on any Premier League match this weekend.

With that in mind, backing Both Teams To Score, Over 2.5 Goals and Ollie Watkins to score or assist comes in at a generous 3.4012/5; Watkins has three goal involvements already, as well as a 0.40 xG + xA output per-90 minutes this season.