Marvelous Nakamba tells Villa to keep their belief

Dean Smith’s men head to the south coast aiming to bounce back from last weekend’s gut-wrenching defeat to Tottenham.

Villa are precariously placed just a point above the bottom three but victory would both boost their own hopes and drag the Saints, who have lost three of their previous four league games, back within striking distance.

Nakamba said: “We are focusing on Southampton now. It is a very, very important match for us.

“Of course we were gutted about Sunday but we cannot do anything about it now.

“I think we did a lot of positive things. We just need to believe in ourselves and the team. I think we can come out of this.

“We need to use our time, everything we can to keep on pushing.”

Villa could find themselves back in the drop zone should West Ham avoid defeat at Manchester City tonight.

Smith’s men looked destined to claim a point against Spurs before Bjorn Engels late error allowed Son Heung-min to net a 94th minute winner and condemn Villa to a 3-2 defeat.

Nakamba added: “It was painful, the way we lost it. We just need to keep our chins up and take the positives going into the next match.

“We lost as a team. It has happened and you can never change it. All we can do is take what we can out of today and focus on the next game.

“We need to keep on believing. Everyone was gutted but everyone is supportive of each other.”