BIRMINGHAM: Southampton weathered a late fightback from Aston Villa to take a 4-3 win in the English Premier League as Villa suffered its second loss after a winning start to the season.
Southampton led 4-0 thanks to three goals from set pieces and a powerful long-range strike from Danny Ings.
Villa seemed out of the game, even after Tyrone Mings made it 4-1 with a header, but scored twice more in stoppage time before running out of time to earn a draw.
Southampton has won four of its last five Premier League games after starting the 2020-21 campaign with three losses.
Villa was the surprise early-season leader after winning its first four, but that run was ended in a 3-0 loss to fellow promoted team Leeds last week.
Southampton had a third-minute goal ruled out by VAR for offside but Jannik Vestergaard made up for it with a towering header from a free kick in the 20th minute to score the opening goal.
Captain James Ward-Prowse scored the second and third goals in almost identical fashion, curling two free kicks into the top corner.
Ings made it four early in the second half with a fierce drive from outside the penalty area.
Mings headed in the first of what turned out to be three consolation goals for Villa, before Ollie Watkins scored a stoppage-time penalty for his first goal since his hat-trick in the 7-2 win over Liverpool on Oct.4.
Jack Grealish added another in the seventh minute of added time.