Aston Villa 1 - 2 AFC BournemouthAston Villa’s relegation all-but confirmed by Bournemouth’s win
Home team scorersJordan Ayew 85
Away team scorersSteve Cook 45 +1:23
Joshua King 74
It is more a matter of timing rather than plausibility but confirmation of Aston Villa’s relegation was deferred for 24 hours as their eighth consecutive defeat was accompanied by the cold comfort of defeat for Norwich City.
Bournemouth deserved the victory, secured by goals from Steve Cook and Joshua King, that took them to 41 points and their own safety. But Villa’s long membership of the top flight, stretching back to 1987, will be over on Sunday should Sunderland, who host Norwich next week, beat Leicester City. It was a numbing stay of execution.
There is a strong sense here that things are going to get worse before they get better. The home supporters booed the names of their own players when the teams were read out before kick-off, the one notable exception being Jordan Lyden, the academy graduate receiving loud applause as he prepared to make his full Premier League debut. The 20-year-old Australian has not had the chance to become enveloped by the general malaise.
Bournemouth have epitomised what a strong team bond allied to purposeful management can bring, even for a lesser group of players. In their first season among the elite, Eddie Howe’s squad, beaten on the opening day by Villa, have long since staved off any realistic threat of relegation, despite losing their past two games.
They looked the better side, which surprised nobody, but could not match their neat approach play once they reached the home team’s penalty area for 45 minutes. Lewis Grabban was allowed time and space to drift towards goal, but from 25 yards dragged his shot wide early on.
Villa set up cautiously, having conceded 15 goals in their past four home games during a run of seven successive defeats. Kieran Richardson, one of five changes from last week’s 4-0 humbling by Chelsea, blasted a shot over from the edge of the area after Idrissa Gueye ran on to Jordan Ayew’s ball wide and beat his man with a clever touch before pulling his pass back.
Although Eric Black had clearly done his preparations as he sought his first win in three stints as a Premier League caretaker, Villa were understandably edgy in possession, aware that the crowd would not take much to turn on them. Despite playing the slight Ayew up front on his own, high channel balls were played up to him all too often, as passes in the midfield were too slowly exchanged thanks to Bournemouth’s slick pressing.
Sure enough, Villa were jeered off at the interval after conceding two minutes into stoppage time. Simon Francis played a short corner to Matt Ritchie, who was not tracked properly and allowed to run on to the backheel to the byline from where he pulled the ball back for his fellow defender Steve Cook to replicate the kind of finish Jamie Vardy showed for England against Germany with a clever flick of his right heel behind the left.
Villa’s demoralised players were taunted with the accusation “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” as they left the field. Black had warned of the dangers of young players being handed an opportunity in this poisonous situation and sure enough Lyden was withdrawn at the interval.
Rudy Gestede came on for the youngster as Black resorted to 4-4-2. The Benin target man was one of 12 summer signings made in a attempt costing £52m to replace the departing talent of Fabian Delph, Christian Benteke, Ron Vlaar and Tom Cleverley – a quartet who had helped Tim Sherwood lead the team to safety and an FA Cup final – and made a goalscoring debut at the Vitality Stadium. Since then, like so many of the newcomers, Gestede has flitted in and out of the side as Sherwood, then Remi Garde and now Black have attempted to put together a jigsaw that makes a coherent picture.
Villa fans are no longer worried about relegation per se. The consideration now is whether the new-look football board, who met pre-match on Saturday, can make the right managerial appointment in the close season, which players should stay – and whether the rest can be offloaded. But who is going to take them after this season’s performances? Gabby Agbonlahor, the club captain, is reportedly earning £54,000 a week, but, suspended by the club after being pictured smoking a shisha pipe on holiday in Dubai, made himself unavailable for this match after phoning in with a virus.
The Holte End found their voice in a more positive sense in the second half, proclaiming themselves “Villa till I die”, and the performance level did improve. When Ayew dribbled in from the byline to pull the ball back, it went through Richardson’s legs.
Villa’s eight consecutive defeat was effectively sealed 16 minutes from time when King capitalised on Ciaran Clark’s poor touch and dinked the ball over Brad Guzan for his sixth goal of the season. Ayew latched on to Gueye’s pass five minutes from time to score for Villa, but Bournemouth were already celebrating.
A good day was made better when Callum Wilson returned from seven months out with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury. “We’re Premier League,” sang the travelling fans. It may be a long time before Villa supporters can make such a claim again.
Guardian