Under other circumstances, it might have seemed the Danny Ings show. Facing Southampton for the first time since his departure, one of their finest goalscorers of the Premier League era struck himself and ended with two assists. Yet, given the elegant brilliance of Philippe Coutinho, even Ings was demoted to the status of a subplot.
When the Brazilian was substituted to a standing ovation, it was both a chance to celebrate his contribution and seemed a case of Steven Gerrard taking mercy on Southampton. An in-form team were hammered. The biggest win of the Gerrard era and Aston Villa’s first at home for three months was inspired by his former Liverpool teammate.
Borrowed from Barcelona, Coutinho looked too good for Southampton. “He showed a level that was above the game at times and showed his form of old,” said Gerrard. “It was a pleasure to be in the stadium. He was the man of the match.”
His afternoon included the goal he merited, his capacity to find space illustrated when he twisted and turned in a packed penalty area before drilling in Villa’s third of the afternoon. It brought an assist, too, with Coutinho’s elusiveness illustrated when he stole in behind the Southampton defence to meet Calum Chambers’ unexpectedly deft ball and tee up Douglas Luiz for a tap-in. “He could have gone for goal,” said Gerrard, praising Coutinho for his unselfishness.
Yet the most remarkable element was the surrounding passage of play: within four minutes Coutinho could have had a hat-trick himself to accompany Luiz’s goal. Fraser Forster made one fine save, while two shots just missed the far post. Ollie Watkins was twice his supplier, returning the favour after Coutinho released him with a defence-splitting pass for another Forster save.
Watkins was already on the scoresheet by then. Coutinho found Ings, who pierced the Southampton defence to find Watkins. He span and shot. It was the first time either Ings or Watkins assisted a goal for the other and if one of the stories of Villa’s season has been a struggle to accommodate the two strikers, Gerrard found a way, pairing them, installing Coutinho as a No 10 behind them and playing a midfield diamond. “Ollie and Danny were unplayable today, that relationship is building nicely,” said Gerrard.
Ings could have been distracted, with his wife about to give birth, but the most productive afternoon of his Villa career ended with a second assist, when he found Coutinho, and just his fifth goal for the club, tucked in from Matty Cash’s low cross. “We concede easy goals,” said Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl. “I cannot remember that we have been so open in recent weeks. We were simply not good enough. They wanted it more than we did.”
Yet Southampton had chances and if only one of their 11 attempts were on target, Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong and Romain Perraud all came close. The issue, however, was that they could not get near to Coutinho. “We had big problems with the (No) 10,” Hasenhuttl admitted.
