Southampton 6-1 Aston Villa : The verdict

A thrilling first half display set pulses racing as they hammered Aston Villa 6-1.

And results elsewhere mean that going into a mouth watering final game of the season at Manchester City, a fifth placed finish is every bit as possible as having to rely on the results of others to have a chance of qualifying for Europe.

• Southampton 6-1 Aston Villa - in pictures >>

On this evidence Saints fans perhaps won’t be as concerned about finishing seventh. Villa were so woeful that a repeat of this will see Arsenal win the FA Cup final at a canter and guarantee Europa League football for that berth.

But Saints will want to try and force the issue as much as they can.

Of course, if Liverpool and Tottenham win then even a Saints victory will see them finish behind that pair.

But none of the trio have a straightforward final day. All are away from home with Liverpool going to Stoke and Tottenham travelling to Everton.

Saints celebrate a memorable victory in their final home game of the season

They will face sides who want to finish with a flourish in front of their own supporters, and you fancy that at least one of them will drop points.

That really does open the door for Saints.

If they can channel a bit of what they produced in the first half against Villa then they will cause even a team like City problems.

It was a tremendous reaction from Saints after two poor performances in an iffy run that had left a downbeat feeling as the campaign drew to a close.

This was a fitting way for them to sign off at St Mary’s. It has been a great season, it deserved this great finale, and maybe one more yet to come.

At the heart of all the first half mayhem against Villa was Sadio Mane.

Sadio Mane celebrates on his way to a record-breaking hat-trick

His 176 second hat-trick is a record that may never be broken in the Premier League.

We have certainly seen the best and worst of him over this campaign.

By his very nature he is always likely to be erratic, and we have witnessed some sublime displays and a few you would rather forget.

But when he, and the team, really play to his strengths he is almost unplayable.

He is skilful, direct, can score goals, has no fear, and, above all else, is absolutely lightening quick.

If you were defending against him on form you would need a lie down in a darkened room afterwards to recover from the trauma. A few of Villa’s defenders might have even needed a little more than that.

So dominant were Saints it was easy to forget that they opened the game with a goal wrongly chalked out for offside after Graziano Pelle finished superbly from Nathaniel Clyne’s right wing ball.

The real carnage ensued in a remarkable three minute period as Mane went on the rampage.

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As good as Saints were, Villa were truly awful. Some of their defending, as a team and as individuals, was as bad as you will ever see at this level.

The first Mane goal was a route one punt down the field from Paulo Gazzaniga and flick-on from Pelle.

Mane got between two Villa defenders and got a bit of luck as his shot was saved by Shay Given but ricocheted off his leg and into the perfect spot for the winger to pick it up and slide into the empty net.

The next goal was a result of a terrible back pass from Ron Vlaar. Shane Long was strong in the challenge with Given and again the ball broke kindly for Mane who had a simple finish.

The third saw a quite magnificent piece of interplay between Long and Ryan Bertrand, the latter’s flicked pass a thing of sheer brilliance.

Long ploughed on down the left, squared the ball across the area to Mane whose side-footed finish from just inside the box moved in the air and beat Given.

Within a heartbeat the game had gone from 0-0 to 3-0 and all over bar the shouting.

The goals kept coming as Long got in on the act.

Shane Long enjoyed a day to remember, with two goals and two assists

His first on 26 minutes came after Mane played in Pelle, his shot was saved by Given but Long was on hand to benefit with a relatively straightforward finish.

There was nothing even remotely straightforward about his second.

Villa were robbed of the ball dozing in the middle of the park, Long pressed on and tried an audacious effort from 40 yards that Given never really got anywhere near.

Just to round off the first half the sorry Villa team pulled one back as Christian Benteke powered home a far post form Leonardo Bacuna’s cross. Needless to say they weren’t celebrating that one.

The second half was a more muted affair with game already won, which explains the crazy possession statistics, but that did at least allow for plenty of celebration and appreciation of the team and their fantastic season from the Saints fans.

They did get one further goal to cheer in the closing stages as Mane played a one-two with Filip Djuricic and whipped in a right wing cross that Pelle slammed home.

This may have turned into a parade but this season is not over, and Saints are firing going into a decisive last day.