​Ross Barkley headed the winner as Aston Villa reignited their European hopes with victory over Southampton in the Premier League in an entertaining tussle at St Mary’s. The midfielder guided Jack Grealish’s cross beyond goalkeeper Alex McCarthy before the break as Villa bounced back from defeat at Burnley. Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez produced a great save to deny Che Adams with 20 minutes remaining, while Matty Cash cleared off the line late on as Southampton failed to make their pressure count. Danny Ings then had the ball in the net in added time but the striker was flagged offside. Saints were earlier denied a penalty when Stuart Armstrong’s effort struck Cash on the arm but was deemed to have deflected off the defender’s thigh. Victory sees Dean Smith’s side climb to eighth, but with a game in hand on many of those above them. Southampton, who have now lost three league games in a row, remain 11th. Grealish and Martinez inspire Villa For all Villa's entertaining attacking football this season, this was a victory in which the visitors had to dig in and, at times, ride their luck. Smith's side had already surpassed their best points tally at the halfway stage of a Premier League campaign since 2009-10, when they finished sixth, and have now won more games in the competition in half a season than they did in the whole of the last one. It needed the creative spark of talismanic captain Grealish and the reactions of goalkeeper Martinez to earn three points that move them back within touching distance of a European spot. Grealish’s hooked cross for Barkley’s headed winner was his ninth assist in the league this season, with only Tottenham’s Harry Kane (11) and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne (10) having made more. Villa’s failure to kill off the game at Turf Moor in midweek cost them against Burnley, but this time the visitors’ goalkeeper kept them in the fixture. Martinez has been superb since arriving from Arsenal and kept his 10th clean sheet of the season thanks to a number of fine stops. He denied Adams from close range and then pulled off a double save following a Southampton corner late on which Cash eventually cleared off the line. The Argentine was finally beaten by Ings in added time but the Southampton striker was narrowly offside. “I came here with massive ambitions,” said Martinez afterwards. “I always say we are not here to stay in the division, we have the quality to go to Europe. I want top six, we have a great team and a great manager.” *Saints frustrated by failure to finish* Southampton were top of the league in November, albeit for just 48 hours, but have slipped into the bottom half of the table after three successive defeats. They have also failed to score in five of their past seven Premier League games. Their penalty appeal came in the first 10 minutes, but was not given after a review by the video assistant referee. Ings produced a delightful piece of skill to flick the ball over Douglas Luiz with his heel and tee up Armstrong, whose effort hit Cash on the arm after a slight deflection off the right-back’s body. The hosts enjoyed plenty of possession and strung together several dangerous moves, but could not manage one on target until the 70th minute when Martinez saved from Adams. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side enjoyed 20 shots in total, three of those following a corner in the 85th minute. First Martinez palmed Jan Bednarek’s header away, then the goalkeeper kept out Adams’ follow-up and finally Cash blocked Jack Stephens’ shot on the line. The number of chances created were at least a positive for Hasenhuttl, who said his side “invested everything” but “must do better” to convert them. *Aston Villa boss Dean Smith:* ”We didn’t change the team from the other night against Burnley. I thought the lads had played well enough to keep the shirt and they put some effort into today’s performance. “We are on the positive side of some tight decisions this time which is pleasing and it was a quality goal. “We’d done enough to win that game and we came here to be hard to beat. Some resolute defending at times. A fantastic goal to see.” --- *The Guardian* Saturday, 30 January 2021 *Ross Barkley the hero for Aston Villa but Southampton unhappy with VAR calls* ​This was a game riddled in controversy and one that was ultimately settled not on the pitch but 70 miles away in a cubbyhole at Stockley Park, where the video assistant referee, Mike Dean, decided against awarding Southampton a seemingly blatant first-half penalty and then ruled Danny Ings offside to deny the striker an equaliser in stoppage time. This time Aston Villa prospered from another grey area of the rulebook, with Ross Barkley’s header proving the difference at full time after Ings’s late leveller was disallowed. When it boiled down to it, and not for the first time this season, it was a scrupulous examination: this time Ings’ armpit v Matty Cash’s backside. It was hard lines for Southampton but it was the referee Lee Mason’s failure to award a penalty before Barkley headed in Jack Grealish’s cross that grated with Ralph Hasenhüttl. “The handball was a good save from the player, good goalkeeping, but it was allowed – it is not even a decision for the VAR,” a frustrated Hasenhüttl said. “It was a fantastic save. It hurts very much.” As for the agonising offside, Hasenhüttl did his best to raise a smile. The decision was upheld by the VAR after the assistant flagged when Ings prodded in from Ryan Bertrand’s vicious strike, pushed into the path of Ings by the Villa goalkeeper Emi Martínez. “We cut all our [shirt] sleeves now in the dressing room,” he said. “Because if Ingsy had, he would have been onside.” ​These teams shared seven goals when they met at Villa Park last month so perhaps it was no surprise that this was another supercharged occasion. The talking point, inevitably, was not an entertaining clash of similar high-octane styles but how those stewing over endless replays and slow-mos on a myriad of screens came to allow Cash off scot-free. Ings did brilliantly, bamboozling Douglas Luiz inside the box with an exquisite flick before laying the ball on for Stuart Armstrong, whose vicious strike clearly struck Cash’s left arm. But Dean ruled against handball on the basis that the ball first grazed the Villa defender’s thigh en route to his arm, a rule Dean Smith pointed to. “The letter of the law is if it deflects off another part of your body then it can’t be given,” said the Villa head coach, who two weeks ago fumed at the rulebook in defeat at Manchester City, when Rodri won possession in an offside position in the buildup to scoring. “We have been on the better side of some marginal decisions for a change, which is nice, but it was a resolute performance.” Smith felt the goal was the telling moment of quality. The former Southampton left-back Matt Targett freed Grealish down the left and the Villa captain scooped a delicious first-time cross into the box for Barkley to power in four minutes before the interval. The ball seemed to hang in the air forever but Barkley arrived unchallenged to direct a header into the corner. Villa were not at their best but Barkley’s header earned a second win in six league matches. It was an ugly victory, eked out when John McGinn and Cash threw their bodies on the line, but Villa have now won 10 league games this season, eclipsing last season’s tally. This Villa side, however, are a different beast. Southampton, too, have won admirers for their fearlessness but are sliding after winning just one of their past eight league matches, though as Hasenhüttl was quick to point out in midweek, that win came against the champions. Things could have turned out differently had Southampton prospered from a late corner that led to three last-ditch blocks or if Ings ditched the home shirt for a vest before poking in the rebound. The crescendo was painful for Southampton, with Villa miraculously denying Jan Bednarek, Che Adams and then Jack Stephens before those all-too-familiar pesky dotted lines landed on the side of the visitors. “Just as well it wasn’t my backside,” tweeted McGinn, attempting to see the funny side. ---