Preview: Bournemouth vs Aston Villa - prediction, team news, lineups

A resurgent Bournemouth outfit welcome Aston Villa to the Vitality Stadium for a Premier League contest on Saturday afternoon.

Unai Emery’s side are looking to complete the league double over the Cherries for the first time following their emphatic 4-0 victory at Villa Park in November.

Match preview

Bournemouth’s miserable 11-game winless Premier League run (D5 L6) between November 2 and January 3 is now a distant memory, as they have accumulated 10 points from a four-game unbeaten run (W3 D1) to ease any fears of a relegation battle.

The Cherries beat Tottenham and Liverpool at home by 3-2 scorelines either side of a 1-1 draw with Brighton, before securing a 2-0 victory at Wolves last weekend to help them climb up to 12th in the Premier League table, 13 points above the bottom three and just six points behind the top six.

Andoni Iraola’s side have largely been successful against some of the big boys in the division this season, as they have won five of their last seven top-flight fixtures against teams starting the day in the top three of the table (L2), while they have also picked up points against the likes of Spurs, Chelsea, Man United and Newcastle this term.

Bournemouth have looked vulnerable at the back, though, with only the Premier League’s bottom three sides conceding more goals than the Cherries (43), who have also shipped more goals from set-piece situations than any other team in the division this season (16, excluding penalties); only in 2022-23 (21) have they conceded more from dead-ball situations in a single top-flight campaign.

Iraola’s men head into Saturday’s contest with Aston Villa seeking to end a six-game winless run against the Midlands club in the Premier League (D2 L4), having previously won four of their first five matches against them in the division (D1).

As for Aston Villa, they travel to the Vitality Stadium this weekend after losing three of their last six Premier League games (W2 D1), as many as they had suffered in their first 18 matches this season (W12 D3 L3).

A 4-1 away loss to league leaders Arsenal at the end of 2025 has since been followed by two narrow 1-0 home defeats to Everton and Brentford, losing to the latter last weekend despite playing for more than 45 minutes with an extra man. Those setbacks have effectively ended any hopes of a late title challenge, while their grip on a top-four finish has also weakened slightly.

Indeed, Villa remain third in the table and sit seven points behind Arsenal at the summit, while they hold advantages of five, six and seven points over Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively with 14 games remaining.

Unai Emery’s side will welcome a trip away from Villa Park on Saturday, as they have won eight of their last 10 matches on the road in all competitions (D1 L1), while only Arsenal have collected more Premier League away points than the Midlands club (21) so far this season.

Villa are now looking to go three games unbeaten at the Vitality Stadium for the first time having picked up four points across their last two league visits to Bournemouth (drawing 2-2 in December 2023 and winning 1-0 in May 2025).

Bournemouth Premier League form:

Bournemouth form (all competitions):

Aston Villa Premier League form:

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

Team News

Bournemouth’s Marcus Tavernier (hamstring), Tyler Adams, Justin Kluivert (both knee), Ben Gannon Doak (thigh), Julio Soler (unspecified) and Will Dennis (ankle) all remain out with injuries, while this weekend's game may come too soon for David Brooks (ankle).

January signing Rayan provided an assist on his Premier League debut as a substitute against Wolves, and Iraola will be tempted to hand the 19-year-old his first start for the Cherries against Villa, though Amine Adli and Alex Jimenez could be preferred to begin out wide.

Eli Junior Kroupi has the best shot conversion rate of any Premier League player to have at least 10 shots this season (38.1%) and he scored his eighth top-flight goal of the season last weekend. The teenager is poised to continue in the final third alongside central striker Evanilson.

As for Aston Villa, Youri Tielemans (ankle), Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Alysson (all knee) and Andres Garcia (thigh) all remain sidelined as they continue to recover from injury.

Star striker Ollie Watkins missed the defeat against his former club Brentford with a hamstring strain, while Amadou Onana watched on as an unused substitute with muscle fatigue. Both players are currently doubtful and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.

If Watkins is not fit to start, then new signing Tammy Abraham is expected to continue up front, with Morgan Rogers operating just behind in the number 10 role – Rogers’s seven PL goals have been worth 11 points to Villa this season and no other player’s goals have been more valuable to their team than Brentford’s Igor Thiago (also 11) this term.

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Smith, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Scott, Cook; Jimenez, Kroupi, Adli; Evanilson

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Onana, Luiz; Sancho, Rogers, Buendia; Abraham

We say: Bournemouth 2-2 Aston Villa

A closely-contested battle could be on the cards this weekend between an improving Bournemouth side and an inconsistent Aston Villa outfit seeking to make a swift return to winning ways to boost their Champions League qualification hopes.

Goals at both ends is likely given how leaky the Cherries and Villa - particularly the former - have been at the back in recent weeks, but we believe that the spoils will be shared in an entertaining score draw on this occasion.

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