BREAKING

Match Preview: Villa v Bournemouth – Villa Park awaits.

The Holte End Villa Park

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

This will be Aston Villa’s first home first home home match in the Premier League since 2016
Aston Villa record vs Bournemouth – W4 D1 L2 – WWWWDLL
Aston Villa league position -16th
Bournemouth League Position 8th
The two clubs are in the same division together for only the fourth season
John McGinn is vying to become the first Villa player since Dion Dublin in November 1998 to score in his first two Premier League appearances for the club
The Cherries have earned just eight points in 11 away matches against newly promoted Premier League sides ( W2 D2 L7 )