Emery lauds Villa substitutes for turning the tide at Southampton

Unai Emery was delighted with the impact that Aston Villa's substitutes had as they sealed a 3-0 win over Southampton in the Premier League.

Villa were struggling to break down their hosts, but Ollie Watkins, Donyell Malen and John McGinn all came off the bench to score late in the second half.

Watkins and McGinn also won penalties, but Marco Asensio was denied from 12 yards by Aaron Ramsdale on both occasions.

Villa have now scored 10 goals via substitutes in the Premier League this season, with five of those strikes coming in their last three games.

And after securing a fourth successive win in the top flight, Emery pointed out how the players who came on were instrumental in extending that run.

"We respect them [Southampton]," Emery told Premier League Productions. "The first half, we didn't concede transitions. We were dominating, but we didn't have many chances to score.

"The second half, the gameplan was the same, and with the fast players, we could add to try and push more and more, and we did. It was a fantastic 90 minutes. The subs had a very good impact.

"We had some moments in this season without players that were injured, and we didn't have consistent 90-minute performances because we didn't have the players.

"Of course, we strengthened in January with four players, and the consequence is it makes us more competitive."

Southampton, meanwhile, slumped to their 26th defeat of the campaign, their most losses across a single season in any division.

Their relegation to the Championship was confirmed following their defeat to Tottenham last weekend, with Ivan Juric stepping down as Southampton boss shortly after.

The Saints had defended resolutely for nearly 70 minutes on Saturday, limiting Villa to half-chances, but they were unable to hold out in the closing stages.

Interim boss Simon Rusk, who will see out the rest of the season in the Southampton dugout, insisted there were positives for his team to take despite the loss.

"I think for us, we have something to build on. The first goal came in the 73rd minute, but we had a clean sheet until then," he told BBC Match of the Day.

"We were well in the game. We were disappointed with the nature of the goal we conceded, but I'm going to take a lot for that game.

"The players gave their all. We can bounce into our next game. I think we can continue to work hard.

"We treat the last six games like we treated the first six games. We played against a top team today, but we were solid. We need to maintain our belief."