Aston Villa increased their goal tally for the season to 13 as they finally found their shooting boots to thrash Bournemouth 4-0 at Villa Park and leapfrog their visitors into seventh place in the Premier League.
Bournemouth lost captain Adam Smith to a head injury in the opening minutes after an accidental collision with team-mate Tyler Adams and never found their rhythm following that early adjustment, with Villa turning their first-half dominance into a lead through Emi Buendia's superb free-kick.
Minutes before the break Amadou Onana opened his account for the season with a crisp strike to beat Djordje Petrovic.
Villa appeared in cruise control but Bournemouth improved after the break, Evanilson hitting a post from a corner before the visitors' threw away a huge comeback opportunity from the penalty spot.
Morgan Rogers' inadvertent handball was spotted by referee John Brooks but after a robust debate with Marcus Tavernier, Antoine Semenyo put the ball down before he was denied by an excellent Emi Martinez save from 12 yards.
That sprung Villa back into life and substitute Ross Barkley rubbed salt into the Cherries' wounds when he glanced home a corner moments after coming on to seal victory, before Donyell Malen added a fortuitous fourth late on when he deflected in Youri Tielemans' long-range effort.
Villa's fifth win from six lifted them two points off second-placed Chelsea, while a second successive defeat drops Bournemouth from third at the start of last weekend to ninth.
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Story of the match in stats...
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