Aston Villa continue their Premier League top-four push against Bournemouth at Villa Park.
Victory would see Villa climb to third with Arsenal not in action until Sunday tea-time, whilst Bournemouth can go seventh with a win if Forest lose on Friday evening.
Team News
Villa have no fresh injury concerns after their Champions League win over Bologna in midweek.
Jaden Philogene-Bidace however is suspended after his red card in their Premier League win at Fulham last weekend.
Bournemouth will be without midfielder, Alex Scott after he needed surgery on a knee injury suffered in training, having came through the win over Arsenal unscathed.
Luis Sinisterra (knock) is also ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Bournemouth at Villa Park on Saturday 26 October at 3pm BST, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have won two of their last seven meetings against Bournemouth (W2, D1, L4).
- Bournemouth have won two of four previous Premier League trips to Villa (W2, L2).
- Villa’s Leon Bailey scored in both meetings against Bournemouth last season.
- Ross Barkley has been booked in each of Villa’s last two home games (W1, D1).
- Bournemouth are looking to avoid suffering three consecutive away defeats for the first time since September – November 2023.
Prediction
Having returned from the international break with strong clinical wins over Fulham and Bologna – even though they had to be patient in the latter, Villa know that a win would put them right in the title race talk if can produce another dominant display.
Bournemouth meanwhile showed incredible bravery to get right at Arsenal from the get-go with a fantastic intensity, which was deservedly rewarded with victory but they now need to replicate that gutsy performance to get a result here.
On that note, a draw would be the easy guess but Unai Emery rested several Villains in midweek, so that freshness might just be the difference.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Bournemouth
Result: Aston Villa 1-1 Bournemouth
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