BBC pundit Chris Sutton predicts result of Aston Villa vs Bournemouth
Chris Sutton believes Aston Villa will be able to get off to a winning start in the Premier League this weekend when they take on Bournemouth.
The Villans travel to the Vitality Stadium to take on the newly promoted club in their first game of the season, with Steven Gerrard keen to start his first full campaign at the club with a victory having spent big this summer.
But Sutton, who was giving his predictions to BBC Sport, expected the club to be busier this summer but still thinks they should have enough quality in their squad to win as the former Villa striker predicted a 1-0 away win.
“Bournemouth worry me a bit because they haven’t done a lot of transfer business since winning promotion,” he said.
“Aston Villa haven’t signed as many players as I thought they would this summer either, but they already had a lot of quality in their squad and this is a great opportunity for them to get off to a good start.”
Positive
Villa have spent a solid amount of money this summer to bolster his squad with the arrivals of Philippe Coutinho permanently, plus Diego Carlos, Robin Olsen, Boubacar Kamara and the loan of Ludwig Augustinsson.
Nobody that was part of the squad last season has left so far during this transfer window other than youngster Carney Chukwuemeka, while Cameron Archer has also been added to the first-team squad for the new campaign.
Now they’ll head for a tough opening game against a club that will be hungry to show that they believe in themselves and that they belong in the Premier League following their promotion.
For Gerrard it will be all about three points and implementing his own personal style on the team with the squad he has assembled, and ideally in an emphatic way.
Sutton may be a little bias having once played for Villa, but most people are in agreement that the away team are the favourites for this game and it would be a surprise if they didn’t pick up the win.
In other Aston Villa news, 2 debuts and a major call made by Gerrard in the predicted XI vs Bournemouth