Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran
Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran (Image: Getty Images)
It wasn't a classic, but Aston Villa managed to secure back-to-back league wins on Saturday after beating Southampton 1-0 at Villa Park.
In terrible conditions for a football match, Emery's Villa didn't need to get out of first gear to beat the Premier League's bottom club. Jhon Duran scored the only goal of the game in the 24th minute after dispossessing Taylor Harwood-Bellis before finishing past Joe Lumley.
Saints didn't even register one shot on target against Villa despite having the lion's share of possession in both halves. It's fair to say Villa will face tougher tests, but they still had a job to do and they got it done.
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Here are the talking points after the win over Southampton...
Emery's changes vindicated
Emery made four changes from the side which beat Brentford 3-1 on Wednesday night, a result which ended their eight-match winless run in all competitions.
He took a risk making three changes in defence and shifted Ezri Konsa across to right-back which essentially makes a completely different back four. Ian Maatsen, Pau Torres and Diego Carlos came in as Lucas Digne, Tyrone Mings and Matty Cash dropped to the bench.
In attack, it was no surprise to see Duran handed his first league start of the campaign after Ollie Watkins was fatigued after an hour against Brentford in midweek.
Villa have just played five games in the space of two weeks and face another two matches against RB Leipzig and Nottingham Forest next week, so changes were necessary.
Although Southampton are staring at relegation this season, Villa still had a game to win. Emery still might not have named his best XI 15 matches into the season and that will still be some weeks away due to injuries and also the need for rotation.
Emery hails 'important' step
Emery was "very happy" after the victory and claimed that the challenges which their visitors posed were what he expected. It wasn't a vintage performance by any stretch, but you get the feeling the Villa manager was just happy to make it six points from six this week after going six weeks without a win before Wednesday night.
"We won and that's positive but the difficulties we had were in our expectation," Emery said on BBC Match of the Day. "Over the 90 minutes we had chances to score more goals but sometimes they were dominating possession. Today we managed the game plan more or less to try and find the way to win.
"It's important for the team. Today we had chances. We dominated sometimes both boxes. At the beginning for sure but the second half they didn't get to our box. We had chances to score the second goal which we didn't do. Amazing goal from Jhon Duran, individual brilliant goal his ability to run in behind and he's very clinical.
"The most important thing is how we are progressively getting comfortable on the field. We have to try to use substitutions because we have Champions League on Tuesday. Three matches in nine days. We have to be ready with the players we have available to try and enjoy the competition."
He added: "Each step we have to try to get comfortable. We are fighting with Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Brighton and we have to try to be there. We focus on the next match, Champions League and then the match against Forest."
Duran takes his chance
Duran took his chance once again on Saturday, scoring his ninth goal of the season in all competitions after 22 appearances across the Premier League, Champions League and the EFL Cup.
The 20-year-old has now scored six goals from outside the box since the start of last season. Only Phil Foden (eight) has netted more among Premier League players in all competitions in that time.
There are now calls for Duran to now get a run in the team because Watkins passed up on a few chances to either score himself or assist a teammate to kill the game off. But that isn't going to happen and neither should it.
Duran will get his opportunities across the season - and he has - but Watkins is the striker who bagged 19 times in the league last term and is averaging nearly a goal every other league game this campaign after scoring seven in 14 starts before coming off the bench on Saturday.
Duran's impact can fade in matches, which isn't a criticism considering he's only 20 years of age. How he can influence games from off the bench is more valuable for Emery.
Leon Bailey came off injured (Image: PA)
Villa's £50m problem could be exposed
Leon Bailey suffered a hamstring injury in the second half and was replaced by Jaden Philogene. He could be out for one to three weeks, said Emery after full-time. You'd expect him to have a more accurate time frame when he speaks to the media ahead of Villa's Champions League against RB Leipzig on Monday night.
Bailey has started 10 of the 15 league games Villa have played this term, which is twice as many as he played from the off at this point in the last campaign. Without a replacement who is of the same profile to Bailey, Emery can't take him out of the side even if he is out of form.
Of course, last season Moussa Diaby provided competition and pushed Bailey to maintain his best level week in, week out. The Jamaica international had been showing signs he was recovering his confidence in recent weeks, but has now been handed a setback.
The problem being exposed here is that Villa didn't replace Diaby in the summer. It was hard to considering he is a £50m player and Villa didn't have the funds to simply sign another international star, but Philogene provides different qualities to Bailey on the right wing.
Philogene prefers to play off the left and is more effective on that flank too. How Emery copes with Bailey will be interesting. Jacob Ramsey is also currently sidelined - for a couple of weeks or so - meaning there are few options available to the Villa boss.
Crisis averted, but work to be done
After losing 3-0 to Chelsea, there was a discourse that Villa were in a crisis after going eight without a win. This was never the case with two winnable matches against Brentford and Southampton to follow. Villa won them both and are now in the top six at the time of writing.
The table isn't really worth analysing until the turn of the New Year. Villa face some acid tests in the remaining weeks of December. After facing RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Tuesday night, Villa face high-flying Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday before they face champions Manchester City the following Saturday on December 21.
A trip to Newcastle United awaits on Boxing Day, and despite their poor recent form, it's never easy going to St. James' Park. Brighton, who have made a brilliant start under Fabian Hurzeler, then play at Villa Park on December 30, before Emery's side then host Leicester City in the New Year.
The results in that run of games will tell us much more about Villa than we know now. They made their best start to the league for 25 years in October, before failing to win five in a row in the league. After claiming successive league wins, now it's time for Villa to maintain some consistency.
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