Aston Villa will feel robbed of crucial win v Bournemouth as ex-referee Dermot Gallagher left stunned by ‘blatant’ incident in 2-2 draw
Aston Villa fans will feel robbed of a crucial win against Bournemouth on Sunday after ex-referee Dermot Gallagher shared his verdict on a critical controversial moment during the game.
Ollie Watkins headed in a 90th-minute equaliser as Aston Villa twice came from behind to draw with Bournemouth in a thrilling Premier League game at the Vitality Stadium.
Antoine Semenyo gave the Cherries an early lead with a smart low finish after a mistake by Diego Carlos before Leon Bailey got Villa back on level terms firing into the bottom corner after some excellent wing play.
Dominic Solanke put Bournemouth ahead again but Watkins popped up to ensure the points were shared.
The Villans can certainly count themselves incredibly fortunate to come away with a share of the spoils as the stats showed that the Cherries were incredibly dominant.
As per SofaScore, Andoni Iraola’s men registered more shots on goal, more shots on target, big chances and big chances missed but more crucially they just performed their xG (expected goals) of 2.02.
Villa registered a worrying number of 0.62 which says much about how Bailey and Watkins brilliantly took their chances, which on the evidence of Sunday’s game may not have been converted on any other given day.
The Villans have been largely inconsistent away from home in the Premier League this season, winning three and losing three of their eight games away from Villa Park, where they have a perfect 100% record [SofaScore].
However, the West Midlands outfit may well feel they could have had the player advantage to pick up the three points on Sunday after a controversial incident which saw Semenyo terribly escape a clear-cut second yellow card.
Already on a booking, Semenyo hauled down fellow goalscorer Bailey just inside the Cherries half, clearly pulling the Jamaican’s shirt.
Whilst a foul was given, no second yellow was presented, much to the frustration of the away side.
VAR currently cannot intervene over potential yellow card offences, meaning Semenyo’s tug went unpunished.
After the mitigating circumstances were pointed out by the Sky Sports presenter Rob Wotton, ex-PL referee Gallagher replied: “My work here is done – you have summed it up so eloquently and so precisely!
“He’s the luckiest man in Bournemouth not to have been sent off because it’s a blatant second yellow card.”
Certainly, the stats show Villa should probably have lost the game but in fact, Bournemouth should have been a man down handing the away side the perfect advantage to snatch a crucial away win on the south coast.
Emery and his team will now head into Wednesday’s crucial clash against Manchester City raging at the fact that they’ve been robbed of some much-needed three points, which would have seen them just two points away from league leaders Arsenal.
In other Aston Villa news, one Villan was twice branded “unbelievable” for what he did against Bournemouth.