SAINTS were condemned to back-to-back 1-0 defeats in the Midlands as they came up devoid of ideas at Aston Villa.

The visitors registered just one shot on target in a dull 90 minutes as youngster Jacob Ramsey punished a sloppy phase of defending right before half-time.

Saints had started the game dominating most of the ball but it soon became apparent to Villa they were not a serious threat, with the Birmingham outfit comfortably seeing out a narrow lead.

Ralph Hasenhuttl made just one change from his starting XI that lost at Wolves, with Moussa Djenepo – fresh off signing a three-year deal – in ahead of benched Joe Aribo.

Summer signing Ainsley Maitland-Niles was left out of the squad altogether, but the reasoning for such was unclear ahead of kick-off.

Aston Villa had two former Saints on their bench, including Calum Chambers and Danny Ings – who scored against his former side in their first meeting since leaving back in March.

That March result here at Villa Park, a 4-0 defeat, came at the end of a marvellous run for Saints and brought about a run of the opposite nature – slipping from 11th to 15th in the division by May.

Lights were dimmed and silence engulfed the 40,758 inside the stadium as the match was preceded by a minute’s silence and national anthem, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

And despite a frenetic start, the game yielded few clear-cut chances – James Ward-Prowse had a dangerous shot blocked from the edge of the area.

Play was halted just under half-an-hour in when Leon Bailey left studs on Romain Perraud’s ankle, but the Frenchman was okay to carry on and there was no punishment of the challenge.

Villa scrambled in their opener right before half-time, capitalising on a loss of concentration from Djenepo at the back-post to force a corner.

Gavin Bazunu saved onto the crossbar to deny a header from the set-piece but in the ensuing carnage Ramsey powered in off the same upright – and a VAR check for offside verified the goal.

It could have been worse, the home side pouncing on the rattled visitors with Douglas Luiz and Phillipe Coutinho both trying from set-pieces.

Hasenhuttl responded with two changes at half-time and awarded a Premier League debut to Juan Larios, but the team did not do as much as register a shot on target until Stuart Armstrong and Sekou Mara were introduced with 20 minutes to go.

Mara officially had the first for Saints, but it was a tame header that trickled into Martinez’s hands. Ward-Prowse made his way into the book for a foul on McGinn, who lashed out in response but went unpunished.

Bazunu went up for a corner deep into five added minutes and the resulting clearance saw substitute former Saint Danny Ings fire wide from the halfway line. But that never needed to go in for the home side anyway.

Aston Villa: Martinez; Young, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Kamara (Luiz, 40), McGinn, Coutinho (Ings, 83) ; Ramsey (Buendia, 66), Bailey (Dendoncker, 66), Watkins.

Unused subs: Chambers, Augustinsson, Sanson, Nakamba.

Booked: Coutinho, Ramsey, Young.

Saints: Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bella-Kotchap, Salisu, Perruad (Larios, h-t); Diallo (Aribo, h-t), Ward-Prowse, Djenepo, Elyounoussi (Edozie, 79), A Armstrong (S Armstrong, 70); Adams (Mara, 70).

Unused subs: Lyanco, Caleta-Car, Walcott, McCarthy.

Booked: Ward-Prowse.

Referee: Tony Harrington.

VAR: Paul Tierney.

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