Aston Villa vs Southampton

Aston Villa 4 Southampton 0 - A huge win at Villa Park for Steven Gerrard as Watkins, Luiz, Coutinho and Ings all bag goals.

Against his former employers Southampton, Ings was booed with every touch he took and jeered in the warm-up, but he will have the last laugh as he scored his first goal at Villa Park for nearly five months. Come on, Ollie! He needed to break his duck last weekend and now he's got a couple under his belt he can look forward to a bright second half of the campaign. Luiz will have something to say about that and against Southampton, he was his composed self, a cool customer with a neat touch and even a finish to match too, as he scored his first of the season, stroking the ball into an empty net for Villa's second. Philippe Coutinho: A joy to watch when he spins on the half-turn, jinks in and out of those tight spaces and knocks those cute passes nobody else sees - Coutinho is starting to enjoy his football again and Aston Villa are the beneficiaries of that. He has predicted the playmaker to 'shine' from now until the end of the season before a decision is made on the player's long-term future at the club. Against Southampton's rigid 4-2-2-2, at times he struggled to find angles and pockets of space, but on the ball he used effectively and with purpose, never settling for the easy pass to boost those completion numbers. He was sure to sit and protect the defence as soon as Villa broke the deadlock through Watkins and provided a solid base alongside Luiz throughout. He notched his second assist of the season with a fine cross to Ings to sweep home. It's hard to review Villa's defensive options when Gerrard has been handed some tough luck in recent weeks with injuries and suspensions preventing his side from developing the relationships that are so crucial to the team's success in the second half of the campaign and beyond. He collected his first cross comfortably and that helped set the tone for another assured performance between the sticks from Martinez. He made a top save to deny Che Adams in the second half and will be delighted to have kept clean sheet number eight for the season. Matty Cash: A week after netting his second goal of the season, Cash was out to impress the Villa Park faithful this afternoon, bombing past the halfway line whenever he could. With three wins in their last four too, Ralph Hasenhuttl's side might have been full of confidence before kick-off, but Gerrard's men were up and at the Saints from the get-go.