UCL league-phase leaders Aston Villa face Bournemouth after Bologna win.

2024-10-20

Aston Villa, fresh from a triumphant Champions League run, are set to challenge Bournemouth, who just ended Arsenal’s unbeaten streak, in a promising Premier League clash at Villa Park this Saturday.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa surprisingly sits at the top of the revamped UEFA Champions League league phase table after a 2-0 win over fellow debutants Bologna on Tuesday. Jhon Durán scored a decisive 64th-minute goal, marking successive goals in the competition and securing Villa's third consecutive UCL win.

"Champions League is very difficult, but we had to be consistent in our gameplan, and we did fantastic," Unai Emery said after the win. "There are other contenders and favourites for the top eight, but we are of course feeling comfortable," he added.

With this fairytale run, Villa [WWDDW] now turns their attention to Saturday's tea-time match against Bournemouth. They aim to build on their Premier League success after a recent 3-1 victory over Fulham, which has positioned them 4th in the league with 17 points.

Villa stands 4 points behind table-topping Liverpool after eight games [5W, 2D, 1L]. With 3rd-placed Arsenal, who share the same points as Villa, facing Liverpool in a challenging fixture, Saturday’s game against the Cherries could see Villa move one spot up the table.

Aston Villa has a mixed home record against Bournemouth, losing their first two Premier League encounters in 2016 and 2019, but winning the last two by a 6-1 aggregate. Ollie Watkins is expected to return to the starting lineup in their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, following Jhon Durán’s reaction after being substituted post scoring against Bologna.

AFC Bournemouth

Bournemouth ended Arsenal’s season-long unbeaten run with a 2-0 victory. The Gunners were reduced to 10 men in the 30th minute following Saliba’s sending off. A well-dispatched penalty by Justin Kluivert in the 79th minute helped the Cherries secure their third win of the season, moving them into 11th place with 11 points (3 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses).

Head coach Andoni Iraola remarked, "For us, it was an important game after losing the last one against Leicester. We had to recover," following the standout win. Despite a recent struggle on the road, Iraola hopes for back-to-back Premier League victories this Saturday.

Bournemouth have had difficulties with only two wins in their last nine away Premier League matches (2 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses). However, they might find confidence in their 50% win rate against Villa (4 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses).

There’s unlikely to be any change to the 4-2-3-1 formation that led them to success over Arsenal, with Evanilson anticipated to lead the attack once again.