SHANE Long revealed how his 40-yard stunner in the 6-1 win against Aston Villa was partly down to some research the team had been doing on Aston Villa during the week.

The forward capped an incredible first-half for Ronald Koeman’s side when he drilled his long-distance effort into Shay Given’s top corner, making the score 5-0.

Long, who has played many times for the Republic of Ireland with Given, said he knew that the Villa keeper would probably be off his line, after seeing videos of him regularly playing a sweeper role on the edge of his area.

“It makes it a little sweeter that I know how good a keeper it is – he’s been one of the best keepers in the Premier League,” said Long, in an interview with the club.

“From training against him and playing against him and with him, I think that makes it a bit more special as someone of his quality, but I won’t be bragging because he has too much respect from me.

“I managed to cut across I think it was [Ashley] Westwood, get past the defender and then I saw Shay trying to get back onto his line – and we’ve been watching videos of him sweeping in behind the defenders and doing a really good job of it as well.

“I just took my chance, connected well with it and it was nice to see it hit the back of the net.”

Long enjoyed an incredible first half, scoring twice and also providing the assists for two of Sadio Mane’s record hat-trick goals.

That made him the first player since Luis Suarez, in December 2013, to score two-plus goals and provide two-plus assists in a single Premier League match.

“Everything went to plan,” he said. “Our high play up the pitch caused them a few problems and we punished them. The luck went our way.

“I thought we started the game well, caused them a few problems, and once we got the first goal the confidence came into us again and all of a sudden we were 3-0 up and in every attack we felt as though we were going to score.

“We got to 5-1 at half-time and I think the main thing was to go out into the second half and not give them anything to get some hope out of and I thought we saw out the game well, managed to get the sixth and it was a great result all round.

“It’s well-deserved for Sadio, as well. To have scored a hat-trick in a game like this is a privilege for any player, but to get the quickest one in Premier League history is very special.”

Long also explained how pleased the players were to give the fans a win in the last home match of the season, following a difficult few weeks.

“The trip away to Sunderland – the fans spent a lot of money and travelled a long way to get up there," he said. "Same again last week, against Leicester – we didn’t put in the performance that our season and the fans deserved.

“It was nice to put that right and finish our home run on a bit of a high, and a bit of confidence going into next weekend’s game up at Manchester City.”