AFC Bournemouth
To mark AFC Bournemouth playing 200 games in the Premier League, afcb.co.uk is looking back at some of the most memorable matches in the top flight.
The second game of our mini-series recounts the events of a 2-1 win for the Cherries at Villa Park in April 2016, a defining match in their first season in the top flight.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Written off as relegation certainties, this victory all but guaranteed the Cherries would stay up in their first season in the Premier League.
Finely-taken goals from Steve Cook and Joshua King condemned Villa to an eighth defeat in a row and left them 15 points adrift of safety with just five games remaining.
The visitors were boosted by the return of Callum Wilson and Tommy Elphick, the pair back in the squad for the first time since September 2015.
Villa, under the charge of caretaker-manager Eric Black, handed a first start to their under-21 captain Jordan Lyden, while Jack Grealish was named on the bench.
There was a toxic atmosphere inside Villa Park and a number of their supporters were in an unforgiving mood, booing some players as their names were read out over the Tannoy.
The Aston Villa Protest Group had called on fans to stay out of the stands until seven minutes after kick-off – seven being the number of times Villa have been champions of England.
There were thousands of empty seats when the teams took to the pitch with every Cherries player, except Artur Boruc, wearing white boots!
The Cherries made an encouraging start and Lewis Grabban drew a full-length save from Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan after trading passes with Max Gradel.
There was some gallows humour on the terraces as Villa fans responded to Cherries supporters’ chants of “we are staying up” with a chorus of “we are going down”.
Chances were at a premium during the opening 45 minutes with efforts from Charlie Daniels and Dan Gosling failing to trouble Guzan.
However, the Cherries drew first blood in one minute of added time at the end of the first half, Cook opening the scoring out of nowhere.
A superb short-corner routine saw Simon Francis play a one-two with Matt Ritchie before Cook arrived at the near post to flick Francis’s cross past Guzan.
It was a rare highlight in a first half which had been low on entertainment but Cook’s third goal in six games gave the Cherries the platform to build on after the interval.
The Cherries had a let-off when Kieran Richardson fluffed his lines from inside the six-yard box following good work by Jordan Ayew 20 minutes into the second half.
King doubled the visitors’ lead 16 minutes from time when he robbed Ciaran Clark on the edge of the box before delicately lifting the ball over Guzan.
Although Ayew halved the deficit when he netted Villa’s first goal in more than seven-and-a-half hours, the Cherries held on comfortably and broke through the 40-point mark.
The Cherries went on to finish 16th in the Premier League, five points above the drop zone, while Villa were relegated along with Newcastle and Norwich.
WHAT THEY SAID
Asked by the Daily Echo whether he thought Cherries were safe, Eddie Howe said: “I am never going to say yes to that question because I could make myself look ridiculously stupid.
“I think we are in a great position and these were a huge three points for us. I didn’t feel we were safe before today and I am not going to say we are now but we are certainly in a better place than we were.”
Howe added: “It feels really good. We were disappointed with how we had played in the previous two games, trying to chase the 40-point mark.
“When you look at the rest of our fixtures, we knew the importance of today. We have some really tough games to close the season with so today was really important and I thought that was reflected in our performance. It was a game of few chances for both sides but, thankfully, we took ours when they came.”
Players and management greeted the final whistle by celebrating with travelling supporters and Howe felt the togetherness in the camp had been key to their success this season.
He said: “I don’t think you achieve what we have without it and I think it has been at the core of all our success in recent times.
“We have a squad of players who have given absolutely everything in their pursuit of success and have devoted their careers to self-improvement.
“We have been followed by a really loyal group of supporters who have backed us through thick and thin. It has been a nice mix and it is great to be part of it.”
Aston Villa caretaker-manager Eric Black told BBC Sport: “Not going down today is a small consolation. We conceded poor goals, but we have to remain professional until the end.
“We didn’t create as many chances as we would have liked. Ultimately, if you concede poor goals, it will be hard to score.
“I'm sure it's not easy to play in that atmosphere, but there have only been two or three victories here this season so I won't be criticising the supporters.
"They turned out again today, which I find remarkable. This is certainly not down to the supporters."
MATCH FACTS
Aston Villa 1 (Ayew, 85) AFC Bournemouth 2 (Cook, 45, King, 74)
Aston Villa: Guzan, Lyden (Gestede, h-t), Lescott, Clark, Cissokho, Bacuna, Gueye, Westwood, Richardson (Grealish, 84), Sinclair (Adama, 71), Ayew. Unused subs: Richards, Sanchez, Toner, Bunn (g/k).
Booked: Gueye, Ayew.
AFC Bournemouth: Boruc, Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels, Ritchie, Gosling, Surman, Gradel (Pugh, 58), Grabban (MacDonald, 87), King (Wilson, 90). Unused subs: Wiggins, O'Kane, Iturbe, Federici (g/k).
Booked: S Cook, Daniels.
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
Attendance: 31,057.
This article first appeared in MATCHDAY for the visit of Aston Villa on this opening day of this season.
