By 
Two early mistakes from Aston Villa ensured that, despite a fairly impressive display, they came away with no points against AFC Bournemouth.
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Aston Villa hosted AFC Bournemouth for the first Premier League game at Villa Park since 2016 this afternoon in a 3:00PM kick-off – also Aston Villa’s first of the new campaign.
Within the first two minutes, Aston Villa found themselves behind within under two minutes as Tom Heaton was adjudged to have fouled Callum Wilson in the area – and Josh King powered home the resulting penalty.
John McGinn could have equalised in the 8th with a sizzling strike towards goal, which Ramsdale was late to react to, but still agile enough to tip over the bar.
A poor move by Douglas Luiz, who let the ball run between his legs in an attempt to spark a counter-attack, resulted in the ball landing at Harry Wilson’s feet. The ball deflected awfully off Tyrone Mings, onto the post, and into the net past Tom Heaton.
There were no clear opportunities for either side after this in the first 20 minutes, other than a potential free-kick that Anwar El Ghazi fired over the bar.
John McGinn could have had back-to-back goals in the 22nd minute, forcing Ramsdale into a save with a hard-and-low shin roller.
Aston Villa started asking questions of the Bournemouth defence at this point, and it started to get the crowd going.
For much of the first half, Aston Villa had the right ideas, and most of the possession, but they were struggling to make their ‘ideas’ pay off.
Dean Smith certainly needed to ensure he wasn’t mincing his words during the break.
Andrew Surman replaced Philip Billing in the start of the second half, as the young Dane was treading a very thin line after his first 45 minutes.
Aston Villa had a shout for a penalty just two minutes into the game as Ramsdale knocked Wesley to the floor, but VAR adjudged it to not be a foul.
Jack Grealish very nearly scored a wonder-goal in the 53rd minute to bring Aston Villa level, but the ball just slipped wide of the post.
Neil Taylor had an opportunity to score his first senior goal as the ball fell to him. He readied a shot onto his left foot which was blocked well by Cook.
Nathan Ake was booked in the 58th minute for a trip on John McGinn.
Aston Villa were enjoying the most possession and attempts on goal within the second half, but those two early errors were looming large still.
Douglas Luiz made up for his earlier error with a stunning strike from range which curved beautifully into the Bournemouth net in the 70th minute.
The 75th minute saw Jota arrive into the fray, replacing Anwar El Ghazi, and Harry Wilson was replaced by Dominic Solanke for Bournemouth.
Tom Heaton made a crucial save in the 80th minute to keep Aston Villa’s hopes of getting points on the board alive.
The 86th saw Keinan Davis get his first Premier League minutes as he replaced Trezeguet.
The were five added minutes once the 90 were up.
Overall, the game was a positive display from Aston Villa – but the early mistakes were costly for the home side.
