Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth: Semenyo misses penalty as brilliant Buendia strike sparks big win
Aston Villa bounced back from their loss to Liverpool with a dominant victory over Bournemouth on Sunday.
Aston Villa returned to winning ways with a commanding 4-0 win over Bournemouth at Villa Park, where Antoine Semenyo missed a second-half penalty.
Unai Emery’s side bounced back superbly from last week’s loss to Liverpool, while Bournemouth fell to their second consecutive Premier League defeat, following their loss to Manchester City.
Emiliano Buendia put Villa ahead in the 28th minute with a magnificent free-kick from around 20 yards out, curling the ball up and over the wall into the top corner before Amadou Onana doubled the hosts’ lead before half-time with a powerful low strike.
Alex Scott nearly pulled Bournemouth back into the game with a looping shot that looked destined for the net, only for a back-tracking Emiliano Martinez to produce a sensational fingertip save.
Evanilson struck the post with a header soon after and the Cherries were handed a lifeline when Morgan Rogers was penalised for handball, but Martinez guessed correctly to keep out Semenyo’s weak spot-kick and preserve Villa’s clean sheet.
Substitutes Ross Barkley and Donyell Malen then added gloss to the scoreline.
Barkley headed home from Lucas Digne’s corner before Malen diverted Youri Tielemans’ driven strike into the net to seal an emphatic victory.
Data Debrief: Buendia's brilliant run
Buendia has now scored three goals in his last five Premier League appearances for Villa – more than he had managed across his previous 35 league appearances combined (two).
His free-kick today was also the first direct free kick scored by a Villa player in the Premier League since John McGinn’s effort against Manchester United on Boxing Day 2023.
Buendia seemed out in the cold at Villa, but his performance was one of a player bang in form. Indeed, he created two chances and led Villa for shots (three).
Owing to some clinical long-range finishing from Buendia and Onana, Villa overperformed their 1.33 expected goals (xG) while Bournemouth generated an xG of 2.0, albeit that was helped greatly by Semenyo’s missed penalty.
