Southampton vs Aston Villa: Southampton again? Really?

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Don't look back in anger. This week, Aston Villa face Southampton in another game that Villa really really need to win. Man, saying that sure gets old. Now, this week's piece is going to be a bit shorter than most in this series, for two reasons. One, it's 2am and I've literally just got home from London, and two, we literally played Southampton in the cup just a few weeks ago. If you want a more in depth preview, check that one out instead.

The last time we met

Villa got dumped out of the Capital One Cup in late October in a 2-1 loss to Southampton. In Villa's defence, team selection was left in the hands of Caretaker Manager Kevin McDonald, which explains why Villa's formation is so messed up. This was the starting eleven:

01 Guzan

21 Hutton

33 Crespo

06 Clark

18 Richardson

07 Bacuna

15 Westwood

24 Sánchez

23 Amavi

11 Agbonlahor

39 Gestede

Now I'm not an expert on tactics, but I have absolutely NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE. It's like Kev picked eleven names out of a hat and stuck them on the pitch. But weirdly, Villa didn't look too terrible. Yeah, they hardly created anything, but it was a fairly equal first half.

Villa conceded in typical Villa fashion for the first, the defence was shambolic as Graziano Pelle headed in unmarked. Heads dropped, Villa failed to clear their lines and Maya Yoshida scored from distance. Yeah, we sunk that low. Things looked an awful lot better once Jordan Ayew came on, which comes as no surprise. With extra energy, Villa won a penalty and Scott Sinclair scored the consolation goal in extra time. But it didn't matter, the cup run was over.

Worryingly, I can't see too much changing ahead of this one. Granted, there is a new manager, but the players and the morale is much the same. Can Villa win? On ability yeah, but on this season's performances, probably not. Saying that, Southampton have lost the last two games, so if there was any time to beat them, it would be now.