Remi Garde: Let's make this the real beginning

Villa were thoroughly outplayed both before and after Joleon Lescott's close-range goal had given them the lead at half-time, but despite an obvious lack of confidence they remained resilient amid Southampton's increasing pressure to limit them to only Oriol Romeu's equaliser.

On an afternoon when the similarly-struggling Sunderland and Swansea experienced defeat, a point appeared more valuable than it otherwise might have done, and Garde believes the result demonstrated his team's ability to avoid relegation.

"The spirit we have shown, the talent we have in the team," Villa's manager responded when asked why he thought survival was possible. "We played a very good side. Southampton are used to playing for a long time together, you can see that.

"A point, a very important one. We suffered a lot, we were under pressure. They have pace, have powerful attacking players. It was difficult for us. It's a good point for us.

"The spirit the team showed (was the most pleasing aspect of Villa's performance). We had very tough moments where Southampton were pushing, creating many chances."

In Garde's first match in charge, Villa impressed in securing a 0-0 draw at Manchester City but then lost 4-0 at Everton and 3-2 at home to Watford. Saturday's draw gives Garde two draws and two defeats since his appointment as manager, and this time, he stressed, it was important they build upon it unlike they did after the draw against City.

"Everybody was fighting for everybody," he said. "We showed the spirit, we need to show that in every game now if we want to avoid relegation.

"I still believe because there's still a lot of games (remaining). The spirit is important.

"What we have shown is interesting for the future. I felt the same after Manchester City and then we dropped our fighting spirit. We can't do that anymore. I hope this is the real start."