Aston Villa manager Remi Garde has praised the spirit and fight of his side after they secured just a sixth point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Southampton.

The Premier League bottom side were pegged back by Oriol Romeu's goal in the second half after Joleon Lescott had given them the lead on the stroke of half time, and they ultimately had to settle for a single point as their hunt for a second league win of the season continues.

Despite the setback, Garde insisted that he was pleased with the result, and hailed the spirit of his players in reacting to last weekend's home defeat to Watford.

"It is a big point," he told reporters. "We have suffered a lot, Southampton created many chances and we were under pressure for long periods. But we showed a very good spirit. I am happy about that.

"The solidarity between the players and the desire to fight and not concede, we did not have that at Everton or against Watford. Southampton are a very strong side and we expected to be questioned and the answers we gave were very good. Sometimes you have to fight hard for 15-20 minutes at the start of a game. We were lucky but we did not give up.

"I prefer to have this solidarity in every game than have much more talent. Solidarity is the key when you are fighting relegation. If we show this spirit again we will get more points. The talent at Aston Villa is not the same as at Manchester City or Arsenal but they still lose games."

Villa face a home clash with high-flying Arsenal next Sunday.