Southampton trounce Aston Villa in 6-1 defeat

Southampton’s Sadio Mane scored the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history as the Senegal winger’s astonishing spree condemned dismal Aston Villa to a 6-1 defeat on Saturday.
Mane took just two minutes and 56 seconds to demolish Villa at St Mary’s and surpass the previous record of four minutes and 33 seconds set by Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler against Arsenal in 1994.

They were 5-1 up at half-time with two strikes from Shane Long, while Christian Benteke headed home his 15th goal of the season for Villa before Graziano Pelle’s late volley. Irish striker Long netted twice after Mane’s treble to leave shell-shocked Villa trailing by five goals only 38 minutes into the match. Graziano Pelle made it six late on and Southampton’s scintillating display keeps them firmly in the hunt for a place in next season’s Europa League. Christian Benteke got one back for Villa in first-half stoppage time, but it was no consolation for Tim Sherwood’s players, whose woeful capitulation cost them a chance to guarantee their Premier League survival.

FA Cup finalists Villa remain four points above the bottom three and will have to rely on other results if they are to be certain of staying up before the season’s final round of fixtures next weekend.