AFC Bournemouth vs Aston Villa Preview

The Premier League returns this weekend with European hopefuls Aston Villa travelling to the Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth.

Like Villa, Bournemouth are also gunning for a place in Europe next season. They come into this round of games sitting eighth in the Premier League, a placing which will more than likely be enough to secure a spot in next season’s Conference League.

This fixture is historic for Bournemouth, as their first-ever Premier League game was against Aston Villa back in 2015. They’ll be keen to avoid a repeat of the 1-0 defeat they suffered back then, and a three-match unbeaten home H2H run since (W2, D1) suggests they’re good value to do so.

They should be full of confidence here, too, after winning 2-1 away at Arsenal last weekend, extending their unbeaten league run to five matches (W2, D3).

Meanwhile, Aston Villa’s current position will see them qualify for the Europa League next year but they sure won’t be content with that and will be desperate to secure a top-five finish that will guarantee Champions League football next season.

However, their hopes of doing so will hinge on a strong end to the campaign as they sit three points adrift of fifth pre-round. All the signs point to Unai Emery’s side ending the campaign strongly as they’ve won six of their last seven league games (L1).

However, they perhaps won’t be keen to make the long journey down to the south coast. That’s because Villa have registered eight of their nine league defeats this term on the road and haven’t beaten a side starting this round inside the top eight away from home all season (D1, L5).

Still, all hope of victory here isn’t lost with Emery in the dugout. The Spaniard is unbeaten in seven personal H2Hs against Bournemouth (W5, D2), while he has never lost a managerial clash with his opposite number, Andoni Iraola (W3, D2).

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table