Aston Villa bidding for first-ever league double over in-form Bournemouth

An in-form Bournemouth welcome inconsistent Aston Villa to the Vitality Stadium for Saturday’s Premier League clash.

Bournemouth claimed a 2-0 victory over bottom-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out in the Premier League, with the Cherries moving up to 12th in the PL standings.

Villa’s quest to challenge Arsenal and Manchester City for the title has faced a setback with recent results, losing 1-0 at home to Brentford in their last Premier League outing, which has kept them seven points behind the Gunners at the summit.

Match preview

Having won four of their first five Premier League games against Aston Villa (L1), Bournemouth are now winless in their last six (D2 L4).

Following their 4-0 win at Villa Park in November, Aston Villa are looking to complete the league double over Bournemouth for the first time.

Bournemouth have won three of their last four Premier League games (D1), after a run of 11 without a win (D5 L6). Meanwhile, the Cherries have also won five of their last seven league games against sides starting the day in the top three of the table (L2).

The Villans have lost three of their last six Premier League games (W2 D1), as many as they had in their first 18 this season (W12 D3 L3).

Andoni Iraola’s side have conceded more goals from set-piece situations than any other side in the Premier League this season (16, excluding penalties). Only in 2022/23 (21) have the Cherries conceded more from set pieces in a single top-flight campaign.

Only the top two scorers, Erling Haaland (360) and Igor Thiago (314), have applied more pressure in the opposition penalty area than Bournemouth’s Evanilson (292) in the Premier League this season.

Bournemouth teenager Junior Kroupi has the best shot conversion rate of any player to have 10 shots in the Premier League this season (38.1%), while he also has the best minutes-per-goal ratio of anyone to score more than once this term (one every 98 minutes).

Morgan Rogers’ seven Premier League goals have been worth 11 points to Aston Villa this season – no player’s strikes have been more valuable to their side so far (Igor Thiago also has 11).

Team news

Bournemouth

Marcus Tavernier, David Brooks, Tyler Adams, Justin Kluivert, Ben Gannon-Doak, Julio Soler and Will Dennis are sidelined with injuries.

Aston Villa

Ollie Watkins, Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Andres Garcia and Alysson are in the visitors’ infirmary.

Predicted line-ups

Bournemouth: Petrovic, Smith, Hill, Senesi, Truffert, Scott, Cook, Jimenez, Kroupi, Adli, Evanilson.

Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Onana, Luiz, Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Abraham.