Young previews Saints encounter

Ashley Young feels Aston Villa can take confidence from their impressive draw against Manchester City as they prepare to host Southampton on Friday night.

The Villans claimed a hard-fought point against reigning Premier League champions City last time out.

Young was introduced as a 27^th-minute substitute and put in an inspired display which earned him the club’s man of the match following a vote by supporters.

And the experienced versatile wide man says Villa want to continue that momentum and put on a good performance against Saints as they strive to collect all three points heading into the international break.

“After the result against Manchester City, I think it was a big confidence boost,” said Young.

“Me and my ambitious self, to be honest I think we could have won the game but it’s one of those things, you’ve got to take confidence out of a game like that.

“I think the way we performed, the way we played, was good to see.

“The fans could understand we put everything out there and that’s how it’s got to be in every game.”

Villa’s fixture against Leicester City last weekend was postponed as a mark of respect to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to honour her extraordinary life and contribution to the nation.

Friday’s fixture against Saints will go ahead and include a tribute to the Queen at Villa Park.

Young says Villa trained at Bodymoor Heath following the postponement, but he and his family also travelled down to London to pay their respects.

“As a mark of respect, I think it was the right thing to do for the games to be postponed,” he said. “It was the right decision to be taken.

“We just trained and got on with it as normal. We were ready to travel but, obviously when we got the news, we just had to change our plans and train.

“We got the opportunity to have a day off so, for me, I took my family into London to go around Green Park, Buckingham Palace to pay our respects. To give an insight for my kids.”

Young added: “I don’t think you can really describe it until you go there yourself, it was quite surreal.

“It was busy, it was packed, people laying flowers at the different memorials that were there.

“We wanted to go down and take the kids there and look at the history of the Queen and show them different places – Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Downing Street.

“There’s so many different places we walked around on Saturday. As I say, it was just an insight for the kids to go there and see.

“We were even able to see the new King as well so that was nice to see.”