It has been an excellent start to the campaign, with the defeat at City just the side’s second loss of the season, and Andoni Iraola will hope the team will avoid back-to-back defeats.
Despite a slow start, Aston Villa have hit some form recently, and they’ll be hoping to carry that on at home against the Cherries.
The Daily Echo previews Sunday’s game.
**Team news**
Iraola was blessed with an empty treatment room ahead of the trip to City, and while it was a bruising encounter at the Etihad Stadium, he should be in the same position to have more difficult choices this weekend.
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Alex Jimenez and Tyler Adams appeared to pick up knocks in Manchester, but Adams confirmed to the Daily Echo that it was just knee to knee so it was ‘all good’.
Otherwise, Iraola looks set to have a clean bill of health meaning more difficult decisions for the boss.
For Villa, Unai Emery will be without Tyrone Mings and Andres Garcia, while Emiliano Buendia and Youri Tielemans could be in line for returns.
Harvey Elliott will be back available for selection after he was unable to face his parent club in Liverpool last weekend.
**Head-to-head**
Villa have marginally the better record across the 15 meetings between the two sides, and it has been the Villans who have had the edge in the past six meetings.
Across those games, Bournemouth have won just once – a 2-0 win at home back in August 2022.
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Villa have won three of the other five games, with two draws.
Last season, the Cherries salvaged a dramatic late draw at Villa Park in October, before they were beaten 1-0 at Dean Court.
At Villa, Mark Travers starred in goal for Bournemouth, keeping the hosts at bay until the 76th minutes, when Ross Barkley broke the deadlock.
Iraola’s side looked set to be falling to defeat, but Evanilson guided a Marcus Tavernier free kick into the corner of the net six minutes into stoppage time at the end of the 90 minutes to earn a point.
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In May, Ollie Watkins netted the only goal of the game in stoppage time at the end of the first half as Bournemouth were beaten.
**Last time out**
The Cherries were beaten 3-1 by Manchester City last weekend, after Erling Haaland netted a brace and Nico O’Reilly scored for the hosts, while Tyler Adams scored for Bournemouth.
That ended an eight-game unbeaten run for Bournemouth, which had seen them sat second in the table, that defeat dropping them down to fifth.
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Villa also had a good unbeaten run ended last weekend, Emery’s team beaten 2-0 by Liverpool, bringing to a close a run of four wins on the bounce.
They only recorded their first win of the campaign at the end of September vs Fulham, the first of those four victories, before wins over Burnley, Spurs and Man City.
That leaves Villa in 11th coming into the weekend, six spots below the Cherries but only three points behind.
AFC Bournemouth travel to Aston Villa on Sunday, November 9, kick off at 2pm.