View: Aston Villa can walkover Bournemouth be exposing defensive issue
Aston Villa will begin their 2022-23 Premier League campaign with a trip to newly-promoted Bournemouth on Saturday (6 August).
The Cherries return to the top flight after finishing second in the Championship behind Fulham but it has been a quiet summer at the Vitality Stadium with only three new signings, two of which are out injured for the visit of the Villans (Ryan Fredericks and Joe Rothwell).
Steven Gerrard meanwhile has brought in five new additions and all should be ready to be involved in the squad heading to the South Coast where they could be seen as favourites to pick up three early points.
Bournemouth have not enjoyed the best pre-season either and they recently lost a friendly to Championship side Bristol City thanks to a penalty but there is more in that performance that will encourage Aston Villa.
One common problem that Scott Parker’s side seemed to suffer from was leaving gaps in between the central defenders that are far too big for Premier League football.
Bristol City failed to expose the Cherries on this occasion but the likes of John McGinn and Philippe Coutinho should be prepared to run from deep and penetrate this kind of hole.
The Robins did make Bournemouth pay in the second half as the onrushing attacker got on the inside of the home defender and surged into the box before being barged over.
A penalty was rightly awarded but it seems that they don’t learn from their mistakes and that could open the floodgates for Gerrard’s men to put them to the sword in emphatic fashion.
It’s not going to be that simple though as they do pack their own punch when in possession with the attacking midfielders often taking up clever positions between the lines that can make a defence panic.
As long as Gerrad has his side drilled and disciplined for what Bournemouth may throw at them, they should go on to score more than enough to start the new season with a big away win.
In other Aston Villa news, the Cherries may want to engage in talks with Villa when they arrive on the South Coast as they want to sign this lesser-used defender from the Midlands.