Today, Bournemouth have beaten Aston Villa on the opening day of the season. Goals from Jefferson Lerma and Kieffer Moore piled on Villa’s misery who were extremely poor out there.
Bournemouth started the game with a 5-3-2 shape. Mark Travers started in goal. A back five of Adam Smith, Jefferson Lerma, Chris Mepham, Lloyd Kellu and Jordan Zemura sat behind a midfield three of Phillip Billing, Ben Pearson and Marcus Tavernier. And up front for Bournemouth, Kieffer Moore and Dominic Solanke.
Aston Villa set up with a 4-3-3 formation. Emi Martinez started in goal behind a back four of Matty Cash, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa and Lucas Digne. New signing Boubacar Kamara held the midfield with John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey starting in more advanced positions within the midfield, and a front three of Philippe Coutinho, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings rounded off Aston Villa’s first starting eleven of the season.
Story Of The Game
A great start by Bournemouth resulted in them going a goal up. A corner came in which met the head of Lloyd Kelly before bobbling around and out to Jefferson Lerma who lashed it towards goal and scored. Dream start to life back in the Premier League, however all to do for Steven Gerrard’s side. Aston Villa’s response was decent. A nice ball from Matty Cash met the head of Jacob Ramsey who found Danny Ings, however a good stop by Travers kept Villa’s number 9 out. Bournemouth had another chance through Solanke who directed a shot toward Martinez who was forced into making a good save. Bournemouth definitely wanted it more in the first twenty minutes before an overload on the right hand side resulted in an opportunity for Adam Smith who directed a shot wide of the goal. Danny Ings received the first yellow card of the game for a bad challenge on Marcus Tavernier. Frustration there for all to see. Villa’s first half performance was shocking. Whenever they had the ball they were trying long balls which were ending up in the hands of Travers every time. They weren’t creating anything and Villa fans had every right to be frustrated. The half time whistle sounded, and after watching their team struggle to really create one clear cut chance, Villa fans sounded their frustration in the stands.
The second half started with a substitute as Emi Buendia came on for Jacob Ramsey in attempt to try and get back into the game. A pretty slow start to the second half with no real clear cut chances for either side, however Villa did start to look promising after the hour mark with Coutinho and Buendia getting involved in the final third before Ollie Watkins came on for Danny Ings. Boubacar Kamara had a slight chance from around twenty five yards out after Emi Buendia took a free kick quickly, however it went just wide. Villa were looking half promising and looked like they may be able to nick something, however the little five minute period of looking a tad threatening soon wore off before Bournemouth extended their lead with just over ten to go. A beauty of a free kick was whipped in by Tavernier ended up out wide with Phillip Billing who put a nice ball in, and a lovely header by Kieffer Moore dipped past Emi Martinez. Gerrard made a double change as Kamara and Coutinho made way for Douglas Luiz and Cameron Archer, however surely too little too late. Six minutes were added, however nothing cynical was created by either side, and Bournemouth ran out deserved winners.
Man Of The Match – Lloyd Kelly
Absolute rock at the back for Bournemouth today and an assist too. Definitely one to watch this season.
Biggest Underperformer – Philippe Coutinho
A very underwhelming performance from Coutinho. It’s baffling how he lasted so long before being substituted. A day to forget for Coutinho along with his Villa teammates…
BY HARRY BATTERS