Emi Buendia on fire, 0% superstar’s errors bailed out – Aston Villa player ratings vs Bournemouth
Aston Villa got back on track with a comfortable 4-0 victory at home to Bournemouth.
Liverpool broke Aston Villa’s winning run with a 2-0 win last weekend but Emi Buendia inspired his side to a dominant performance to bounce back on Sunday.
The Argentine broke the deadlock midway through the first-half when he clipped a beautiful free-kick over the wall from the edge of the box with Djordje Petrovic rooted to the spot.
Amadou Onana doubled the lead shortly before the interval with his first goal of the season, smashing home low into the corner from outside the box.
Morgan Rogers were penalised for an unlucky handball 65 minutes in as Evanilson’s close-range header hit his raised hand at the back post, but Emi Martinez, back to his infamous best on the day, dived low to keep out Antoine Semenyo’s penalty at full stretch.
Substitute Ross Barkley then made the points safe with a lovely near-post header to glance home a corner with a quarter of an hour left, before three more replacements combined for the late fourth as Jadon Sancho found Youri Tielemans on the edge of the box and Donyell Malen diverted his shot in.
Emi Buendia stars for Unai Emery
Buendia was the star of the show as Aston Villa comfortably got back to winning ways at Villa Park, although compatriot Martinez gave him a run for his money in the second half.
Before the break it was the former Norwich City man who was the driving force for the home side and helped put the Villans in command.
His goal from a wonderful dead-ball strike was the obvious highlight but Buendia was also working hard in defence for Aston Villa, as shown by his sprint to track Marcus Tavernier the length of the pitch, while he was the greatest attacking outlet throughout the opening period.
Defensively he won 100% of his three tackles according to Sofascore, recovered possession five times, while making one interception and two clearances.
He also won the free kick from which he scored as he was barged to the ground when running onto a Matty Cash long ball, in one of numerous instances of his energetic and direct running.
From his 43 touches he had three total shots, created a big chances and delivered two key passes, why completing 67% of his 24 passes (16).
Morgan Rogers escapes two major errors
In such a complete display it almost feels unfair to pick out any of the hosts’ players as being poor. Pau Torres was slightly shaky at the back, and while Ollie Watkins failed to break his Aston Villa scoring drought he linked the play well up top after the break.
Arguably it was Rogers who risked derailing the confidence-boosting win more than anyone, despite some characteristically nice touches on the ball.
Inside the first quarter-hour, with the scoreline goalless, the England star was booked, and lucky not to put his side down to 10 men, when he was late on Evanilson just outside the Bournemouth box and stood on the back of the Brazilian’s ankle.
Were it later in the game John Brooks may have opted to show a red card, and had it gone the other way at the the game would surely have gone very differently.
Evanilson almost got payback when Brooks penalised Rogers and pointed to the spot at 2-0. His hand was deemed to be an unnatural position as he landed after jumping to challenge for the header, and while he was clearly unlucky it again almost changed the flow of the game, only for Martinez to bail him out.
There were some stylish flashes but according to Sofascore stats Rogers had just one shot, no key passes, and failed with is one cross (0%). His 34 touches across 86 minutes included four which were “unsuccessful” while he lost possession 11 times.
Aston Villa player ratings vs Bournemouth
Emi Martinez – 8
Matty Cash – 7
Ezri Konsa – 6
Pau Torres – 5
Lucas Digne – 6
Boubacar Kamara (off for Malen ’80) – 6
Amadou Onana (off for Tielemans ’71) – 7
John McGinn (off for Barkley ’71) – 7
Morgan Rogers (off for Rogers ’86) – 4
Emi Buendia (off for Sancho ’70) – 9 (Man of the Match)
Ollie Watkins (off for Bogarde ’80) – 6
Substitutes
Youri Tielemans – 7
Jadon Sancho – 7
Ross Barkley – 7
Donyell Malen – 7
Lamare Bogarde – 6
Evan Guessand – 7
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