Written by BillyTheKid
Another Tough Away Fixture
After our defeat against Manchester City, ending our eight-game unbeaten run, our next game is away again, this time the Cherries travel to Villa Park to play Aston Villa on Sunday at 2 pm. Andoni Iraola faces a fellow Spaniard for the second game in a row in Unai Emery. Last game before the international break, and it is again on Sky.
Aston Villa v AFC Bournemouth
Villa Win
Villa Win
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Draw
Draw
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AFCB Win
AFCB Win
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Since Unai Emery’s two full seasons in charge of Aston Villa, this season in their opening five games have been the poorest. Villa were sitting in 18th place with 3 points, having drawn 3 and lost 2 games. Now, after ten games, they are in 11th position with 15 points, having won 4 and lost 1 in their last five games.
In their home games, they have won the last 3. Villa started off with a goalless draw against Newcastle United, lost 0-3 against Crystal Palace, beat Fulham 3-1 and Burnley 2-1 and in their last home game, they beat our last opponents, Manchester City 1-0. Away from home, they lost 1-0 at Brentford, drew 0-0 with Everton and 1-1 with Sunderland. Beat Spurs 1-2 and in their game at Liverpool, they lost 2-0.
The last time AFCB visited Villa Park was in October last season. It was goalless at half-time. Villa were the first to score, Ross Barkley scoring in the 76th minute. The Cherries equalised with the last action of the game when Evanilson headed in from a Marcus Tavernier free-kick in the 6th minute of injury time to earn a point.
In our away league games against Aston Villa, AFCB have W 2, D 2, L 3.
All competitions, AFCB have W 5, D 3, L 7.
Aston Villa Team News
Tyrone Mings, Youri Tielemans, Andres Garcia and Emi Buendia have been out injured. They signed eight players during the Summer window.
Aston Villa Player To Watch
Morgan Rogers has been one of their players in form in recent games. If he plays, Emiliano Buendia is the joint leading scorer with 2 goals and is equal top with 2 assists.
AFCB Team News
Alex Jimenez and Tyler Adams both suffered injuries against Manchester City, but hopefully will be available for selection.
AFCB Player To Watch
Antoine Semenyo is due for another goal; hopefully, it will come against Villa.
The Referee
John Brooks is in charge of this game. He took two of our league games last season, at home against Everton and away at Spurs. Also, the away game against Everton in the FA Cup.
Matt Stevenson added…
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for A Villa. They had two home games (Burnley and Man C) and two away games (Spurs and Liverpool). A Villa have gained 9 points, although this looks to be an overachievement as they only had the highest xG in one game. The xG value for goals scored is 2.70, compared with 5 actual goals; they have conceded 4 goals, with xGc estimating 3.52 goals.
Goals Xg.jpg
A Villa have had 4 different goal scorers (Malen with 2). Four players have one assist each.
The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. There seems to be no clear pattern, although even against Burnley at home, Villa held a congested middle third.
Av Pos.jpg
The following plot compares the summary stats of A Villa and AFCB over the last 4 games.
A Villa have had more attempts, but fewer big chances, goals scored and less xG, with both teams outperforming their xG. AFCB have worse defensive stats, with more goal attempts, big chances and xGc and more goals conceded. A Villa have made a relatively large number of errors leading to chances.
Comparison.png
AFCB marginally shade possession, although A Villa do this for pass completion. There is a stark difference in chances created from set pieces, with Villa having a high percentage and AFCB a low percentage. This difference is less noticeable for chances conceded from set pieces.
Percentages.png
Your say…
NorthStandMark said…
Villa are pretty up and down, but have generally improved on their early-season form, which isn’t ideal for us. It does mean they will see the game as winnable, though and will come at us, which is probably good. – To join the conversation, please click here.