Villa are on home soil this weekend as they face AFC Bournemouth Saturday afternoon at Villa Park.
LAST TIME OUT
Villa were left frustrated last weekend as Spurs star man Harry Kane bagged a double in a 3-1 victory for Tottenham Hotspur.
However John McGinn marked his top flight debut with an early goal as we went into the break one goal ahead against the Champions League finalists.
Positives galore
There remained plenty of positivity in the aftermath of our return to the Premier League, after holding off one of the division’s top sides for well over an hour.
Tom Heaton made two top notch saves that kept us in the match, while Bjorn Engels and Tyrone Mings showed promise as a new centre back partnership.
A goal to saviour
It was a moment we’d all been waiting for , three years in the making. When John McGinn found the bottom corner after just nine minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it was the ultimate announcement of our top flight return.
In Quotes
On being back at Villa Park
Dean Smith said
“I’m excited its a full house. We have 30,000 season ticket holders and another 8,000 on the waiting list.
We’ve captured the imagination of Villa supporters and we need to make sure Villa Park is big for us this season.
it needs to be a tough place to come, like last season.
The players are used to sell outs and we have to go and perform.”
On Tyrone Mings playing against his former club:
Smith said
“He’s quite level headed. He knew he needed to get out and play football, which he did for us last season
We enjoyed having him here and he enjoyed being here.
We took the chance to sign him , when Eddie said he didn’t really want him to leave. He knows he has to go and perform for his team mates.”
Injury Update
James Chester, Kortney Hause and Jonathan Kodjia will all miss the Bournemouth clash this weekend.
Chester (Hamstring) and Hause (ankle) have issues picked up in pre-season. However Kodjia (ankle) got injured shortly after coming on in the premier league opener with Spurs and now misses the Cherries match at the weekend.
Korben’s Prediction:
My prediction is that it will be a tough game but at a sell out Villa Park after last week’s performance against Spurs i really fancy us to start with a home win
Villa 2 Bournemouth 1 with McGinn and Wesley to score for Villa.
Villa Underground Prediction:
The Spurs game gives us great promise for the season ahead. However, it also served to remind us of the significant step up in terms of some opposition we will face.
The Cherries are well organised, well drilled and undeniably well led with Howe at the helm.
However, Bournemouth must be amongst games Smith will have circled as home wins if Villa are to survive this first season.
Score prediction: Villa 1-0 Bournemouth.
Key Facts