Bournemouth vs Aston Villa
Aston Villa recently slid to third in the Premier League table after a mixed bag of results in the past few weeks. Unai Emery’s men aim to re-establish themselves in the title race when they visit Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday night.
The Villans are coming off a 1-0 home loss against 10-man Brentford. With 46 points, Aston Villa are one point behind Manchester City and seven points adrift of frontrunners Arsenal. Meanwhile, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool, at 41, 40, and 39 points, are slowly creeping up behind them.
Bournemouth are on a positive stretch of Premier League 2026 results, as they’ve finally come to terms with the sale of Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City last month. The Cherries are undefeated in their last four (W3, D1), improving to 12th in the English top-flight table with 33 points.
Talking Points
Bournemouth love their goals
Andoni Iraola’s side has picked up form in their past three games, scoring six goals while conceding three on the other end, as several players have stepped up to fill the massive void left by Antoine Semenyo, whom they sold during the winter transfer window.
Marcus Tavernier put the Cherries up by one before Charalampos Kostoulas had other plans for Brighton. Amine Adli was the hero in their 3-2 win over Liverpool by scoring the stoppage-time winner after Evanilson and Alex Jimenez built a 2-0 lead in the first half. And last weekend, Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott were on the scoresheet in Bournemouth’s 2-0 shutout win over Wolves.
Junior Kroupi seems destined to be the next big thing for Bournemouth, as the 19-year-old forward is the most clinical finisher in the Premier League as of this writing. At eight goals from 21 shots, Junior Kroupi’s 38.1-per cent tops the likes of Brentford’s Igor Thiago (29.63-per cent), Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey (29.41-per cent), and even Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (23.53-per cent).
Meanwhile, Marcos Senesi has emerged as the Cherries’ top playmaker this season with four goals. The 28-year-old centre-back is clearly incentivised to play well, as his current contract runs until June.
Aston Villa remain without influential pieces
Aston Villa are clearly missing the services of captain John McGinn and Youri Tielemans, both of whom are expected to miss several weeks. McGinn injured his knee during their 1-0 loss to Everton last month, while Tielemans tweaked his ankle during their 2-0 win over Newcastle United last week.
Unai Emery has gone with Jadon Sancho, Lamare Bogarde, and Douglas Luiz to try fill the void left by McGinn and Tielemans. However, their recent performances leave much to be desired, and Emery might make changes there for the Bournemouth game.
To make matters worse, Ollie Watkins, the Villans’ top scorer with eight league goals, was sidelined by a hamstring issue against Brentford and is facing a fight against time to be 100-per cent fit this Saturday.
History
Aston Villa embarrassed Bournemouth in the reverse fixture last November, as the Villans won 4-0 against them at Villa Park, with Emi Buendia, Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley, and Donyell Malen scoring four unanswered goals. Unai Emery’s side is looking to complete a league double over Bournemouth for the first time this Saturday.
Aston Villa have lost three of their last six Premier League games (W2, D1), as many as they had in their first 18 this season (W12, D3, L3).
After winning four of their first five Premier League matches against Aston Villa, Bournemouth are now winless in their last six (D2, L4). However, the Cherries have won three of their last four league games (D1) after a run of 11 without a victory (D5, L6). They also have won five of their last seven league games against sides starting the day in the Top 3 (L2).
Betting Tip
The Premier League 2026 odds expect a close contest between Bournemouth and Aston Villa this weekend. Because they’re higher up in the table, the Villans have the slight advantage at 2.39, while the Cherries aren’t far behind at 2.59, and a draw is at 3.36 in the 1X2 market.
After back-to-back low-scoring matchups last season, the goal count has picked up again in their reverse fixture last November, and we might see something similar on Saturday. With that said, SBOTOP punters could also add Over 2.50 at 1.68, Over 3.00 at 2.12, and even Total Goals 4-6 at 2.80 to the parlay. Furthermore, a Correct Score of 4-0 in favour of the Villans – the result of their previous league encounter – seems like a long shot at 85.00 your bet.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT)
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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