BirminghamLive brings you the talking points from Aston Villa's thrashing of Bournemouth
Aston Villa beat Bournemouth 4-0
Aston Villa beat Bournemouth 4-0(Image: PA)
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Aston Villa made it six home wins in a row on Sunday afternoon after beating Bournemouth 4-0.
Emi Buendía opened the scoring for Villa from a free-kick before Amadou Onana crashed in his first goal of the season later in the first half.
After Emi Martínez saved Antoine Semenyo’s penalty, Ross Barkley added a third for Villa, before Donyell Malen turned in Youri Tielemans’ effort from the edge of the box.
The win leaves Villa in a strong position in the Premier League heading into the November international break - just two points off third place.
Here are the talking points from the win...
Villa drop three points in six weeks
The transformation from Villa’s first five league games to their last six has been stark.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why Villa were so poor in their opening matches, with chance creation particularly low.
There’s no doubt that the club’s difficult summer window seeped into performances on the pitch, and perhaps there were some questions being asked in the dressing room.
Jacob Ramsey’s sale was a real kick in the teeth for Villa, who reluctantly agreed to part ways with their academy graduate - a popular member of the squad.
The closing of the window came just one day after a 3–0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace, before draws at Everton and Sunderland followed.
Emery claimed that he had seen improvements in his side’s performances, but it wasn’t until a few home truths were told after the 1–1 draw on Wearside that Villa really turned a corner.
Eight wins from 10 games have followed since, and in the last six weeks, Villa have taken 15 points from a possible 18.
“I am very happy with the win. We are recovering from a bad start to the season,” Emery said on Sky Sports. “The effort physically was a huge effort, and to manage the squad with different players with the effort we needed, we can feel proud after the game.
“This is the level of the players. We are trying to set our standards in everything - every day, how we prepare the game - and the quality of the players is important. Fantastic goal, and Emi has this quality to score set-piece goals.
“How the players got the commitment before the match to focus and in the way we played is really something. This is how we are building and trying to recover, feeling better in the league and Europa League to get the performances we need for the future.
“Now our balance is better in the squad, with the players more focused and getting the challenges we have. The players are responding well on the field. Very important how we finished today [before the break], winning and feeling good.”
Buendía replaces Asensio
Buendía and Matty Cash would not have been two names many Villa fans would have considered for player of the season contenders, but if you stopped the campaign now, they’d each have a strong claim.
Cash launched a pinpoint pass to Buendía in the first half, which led to the free-kick that the Argentine converted.
One thing we’ve learned this season is not to write off a player - especially in the case of Buendía, who has now scored four goals in all competitions and made two assists across 14 appearances.
It’s been some comeback from Buendía, while Cash, in a different way, has also proved a point or two.
Often scapegoated in the last couple of years, Cash hasn’t given his critics an inch to talk about in the first three months of the campaign. He has been nothing short of tremendous.
Villa’s third goal came through Ross Barkley, whose stock was at its lowest point since his return to the club after being left out of the European squad.
Back to Buendía - and considering the level Marco Asensio set during his loan spell at the club - the former Norwich City man had a lot to deliver on to replace him this season.
Emery gave Buendía the chance to impress in pre-season, which he did, before declaring his intention to fight for his place in the team.
In what was a stroke of luck more than anything else, Villa not paying a premium for Asensio and carrying his huge wages - with Buendía essentially matching his level of performance and output - is a big boost.
After the win, Onana said of Buendía’s free-kick on Sky Sports: “He practices it a lot - hundreds and hundreds of times. Austin, our set-piece coach, was speaking about it this morning and showed us the free-kick he scored against Roma in pre-season. Really happy for him - he’s a special player.”
Courtesy of strikes from Buendía and Onana, this was the first time Villa had scored two or more goals from outside the box in the first half of a Premier League match since April 2008 vs Derby County.
Where the land lies for Villa
After 11 games last season, Villa had collected 18 points - winning five, drawing three and losing three of their matches.
This term, their record is identical after the 11th matchweek, with the only major disparity being goals scored and conceded.
Villa had scored and conceded 17 goals at this stage last season, while this campaign they’ve shipped only 10 but found the net 13 times - a figure influenced by their poor start.
Last season, Villa had a strong start and finish to the campaign but were poor in the middle third.
Why that could be different this time is because, firstly, Villa are not playing in Europe’s elite club competition, but also because there’s clearly still room for improvement.
Ollie Watkins has only scored one goal in 16 games, while Morgan Rogers is still playing his way into the form he showed last term.
Both players combined for 58 goal contributions last season - a staggering number across the 57 games Villa played in all competitions.
After 16 matches this campaign, Watkins and Rogers have registered just five goal contributions combined. That might make reaching 50-plus an unrealistic target, but it certainly shows there’s still room for improvement.
Claret & Blue verdict
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