The Villans made a purposeful start to proceedings, with Boubacar Kamara forcing Dorde Petrovic into action inside the opening 15 minutes.
The Bournemouth goalkeeper may have been alert to that effort, but he could only watch Emiliano Buendia’s stunning free-kick nestle in the net just before the half-hour mark. The Argentine showed great technique to quickly get the ball up and down from the edge of the box, taking his tally to three PL goals for the season.
Buoyed by their opener, Unai Emery’s side continued to pile the pressure on the visitors to net a deserved second through Amadou Onana’s long-range effort. The Belgian set the ball out of his feet from Morgan Rogers’s neat layoff, before he wound up a right-foot shot that raced past the outstretched Petrović at the near post.
Onana’s first Villa goal since April made sure Bournemouth went into the break with a two-goal deficit for the first time this season, leaving Andoni Iraola with significant work to do in his HT team talk.
Iraola’s words initially had a positive impact, as the Cherries showed greater intent following the restart, although their efforts to establish a foothold were negated by Martinez and the woodwork.
The Villa goalkeeper scrambled back to push Alex Scott’s deflected effort over the bar, shortly before Evanilson crashed his header against the upright from a deep corner.
The Brazilian forward then won a penalty from a similar situation when he nodded a far-post delivery against Rogers’ raised arm. However, to Villa’s delight, Martinez proved why he is a penalty-saving specialist, as he pounced low to his right to get a strong hand to Antoine Semenyo’s spot-kick.
Bournemouth’s fading hopes of a positive result were then completely quashed by two clinical Villa set-pieces. Ross Barkley glanced a header home from Lucas Digne’s corner, before Youri Tielemans’s shot deflected in off Donyell Malen after a short corner had been worked to the edge of the box.
Those late strikes wrapped up an emphatic victory, sending the Villans up to seventh and Bournemouth down to ninth on goal difference.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa)
Click here to see all the stats of the match.
