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Oriol Romeu’s equaliser earned Southampton a draw against an Aston Villa side who have now gone 14 Premier League games without a win.

The visitors had to withstand an early onslaught as Dusan Tadic, Graziano Pelle and Jose Fonte each missed gilt-edged chances for the home side.

Southampton were punished when defender Joleon Lescott turned in a corner.

But the top-flight’s bottom club Villa could not hold on as Romeu stabbed in a shot from a corner for the leveller.

Are Villa moving in the right direction?

The Midlands club are yet to win in four games under manager Remi Garde and they would have been on the end of a heavy defeat if Southampton had been more clinical in front of goal.

Villa had made three changes to their back four from the defeat by Watford last time out and their defence lacked any cohesion as they were overwhelmed in the first half.

However, it was the visitors who took the lead when Lescott scored his first Villa goal after James Ward-Prowse and Pelle failed to clear a low Jordan Veretout corner that bounced across the six-yard box.

Villa gradually improved and, despite conceding an equaliser, Garde, whose side are six points from safety, can take the battling qualities his players showed as a positive.

“That is massive for morale,” said Lescott. “We had to stand up to it today and in the first 20 minutes they could have won the game. We rode our luck.

“But we showed grit and determination, the manager wanted more desire from us and we showed that.”

Southampton ended a run of three defeats with the draw but they will be left scratching their heads at how they did not win.

The home side could have been three up in the first 20 minutes but lacked a clinical edge in front of goal.

Dusan Tadic shot high after Sadio Mane’s cut back, Pelle also cleared the bar from close range while Fonte had an effort kicked off the line by Rudy Gestede as Villa’s goal led a charmed life in the early stages.

Saints had more than 60% possession during the match, 23 shots compared to Villa’s nine, 10 corners in contrast to four for the visitors and they put in 45 crosses as opposed 10 from the Midlands outfit.

The deserved equaliser for the St Mary’s side eventually came from an unlikely source as Romeu scored his first goal for the club from almost exactly the same spot as Lescott after Villa failed to deal with a corner.