After Emiliano Martínez’s mistake allowed Mohamed Salah to open the scoring at Anfield last weekend, there was a statistic doing the rounds that only three players had made more errors leading to Premier League goals since the Argentinian signed for Aston Villa five years ago. The life of a goalkeeper and all that.
But Martínez tends to thrive when in the line of fire and here he pulled off two brilliant saves, including one to deny Antoine Semenyo from the penalty spot, before the substitutes Ross Barkley and Donyell Malen sealed a 4-0 win that lifts Villa above Bournemouth in the table. For Andoni Iraola’s side, their first notable off-day of an otherwise fine start.
Villa’s first-half goals were both scored within a couple of yards of the same patch of Villa Park turf, Emiliano Buendía lifting a wonderful free-kick over the Bournemouth wall and past Djordje Petrovic in the visitors’ goal and 12 minutes later Amadou Onana powered a low, precise shot inside the near post. Villa established a two-goal cushion at the interval but the second half always felt dangerously balanced given Bournemouth under Iraola, with nothing really to lose, would invariably attack.
Bournemouth’s left-back Adrien Truffert was fortunate to avoid a second booking for a poor challenge on the Villa captain, John McGinn, typically brilliant in midfield, and a few minutes later they came close to pulling a goal back. Semenyo rampaged towards goal and though McGinn blocked his route, Alex Scott picked up the leftovers and dispatched a first-time shot. A wicked deflection meant Scott’s effort looped high and a back-pedalling Martínez prevented it sneaking under his crossbar with his left glove. Three minutes later Evanilson headed against a post at a corner.
