For an hour Saints looked World beaters then we let it slip a little, but the truth is before we would have all took 3rd place by the end of it, perhaps letting the lead almost slip will be a blessing in the long run as it will show us not to be so complacent.
In the first half Saints were magnificent, after a start that saw a goal ruled out by centimetres, a perfect Ward Prowse corner saw Jannik Vestergaard head home to give us a deserved lead, follow that up with two sublime James Ward Prowse free kicks that earned him the honour of being the first player in Premier League history to score two direct free kicks in the first half and all was looking good at half time.
But a change was made at half time, Jack Stephens coming on for Jan Bednarek, presumably feeling the force of his first half fall and it upset the balance at the back.
On 58 minutes Danny Ings scored a great goal with a shot into the far corner and at 4-0 on the hour mark it was all looking good.
Although it needed some smart saves from Alex McCarthy to keep Saints in charge, we still looked the part, but then it started to go wrong, only 4 mins after the goal we went to sleep and let Tyrone Mings reduce the arrears, Villa had plenty of bluster but we still looked in command, but with 10 minutes left Ryan Bertrand went off and we reshuffled, but the big blow came on 85 minutes when an innocuous challenge saw Danny Ings go off although he seemed to be walking ok.
Injury time arrived and we still looked well in control, but then we went to sleep.
Villa to their credit seemed to want to tray and make it 4-2 than worry about letting it slip to 5-1 and kept going, we still tried to play a bit too much football at times when we should have cleared , this gave Grealish the chance to go down in the area and he did and the penalty was despatched, but with less than 3 mins of injury time less a mere blip.
Or was it with the 6 minutes up we backed off Grealish and he hit a shot to the near post, McCarthy who had been perhaps Saints man of the match was left watching expecting a cross, a rare error on the day.
So a 4-3 victory felt like a defeat, it was three points, but it really should have been more emphatic, it showed that we can't get complacent, we sit third albeit for perhaps a short time, but it didn't feel like it, the injuries didn't help that feeling.
But it was a win, we are third in the table and lets be honest this is beyond our wildest dreams after the opening two games and we should be well pleased with the days work.
But the fact we scored 4 goals and let in 3 shows that going forward we are a top 10 side, possibly higher in this season, but defending in the second half showed that we still have work to do.
A game of two halves yes, but the scoreline flattered Villa despite their possession and shots but that was our fault not theirs.
But this will hopefully be something that sends out warning signs and means that Ralph Hasenhuttl doesn't let his side get too complacent