Aston Villa bolstered their UEFA Champions League qualification hopes, coming from behind to claim a 3-1 Premier League victory against Bournemouth at Villa Park. The Cherries have now won just once on their travels since Christmas (two draws, four losses).High on confidence after following up a 2-0 Premier League win over Arsenal by booking their spot in the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals, Villa began positively here. Having started the move, Pau Torres came close to getting on the end of an inviting Moussa Diaby cross before the France international misdirected a Leon Bailey cut-back minutes later. As the half went on, Bournemouth grew into the contest, and after a short period of pressure, they had the chance to take the lead from the spot when Matty Cash brought down Milos Kerkez. With the Premier League Golden Boot still in sight, Dominic Solanke stepped up to convert his 18th league goal of the campaign.It looked as though the Cherries would carry that lead into the interval, yet former Bournemouth loanee Morgan Rogers had other ideas, taking Bailey’s pass in his stride before cutting back and smashing the ball in at the near post on the stroke of halftime. No Premier League side has conceded more goals in the 15 minutes after the break than the hosts, yet it was Villa who netted in the 57th minute to turn the game on its head. Involved once more, Rogers received the ball on the half-turn and picked out Ollie Watkins, who showed brilliant close control to cut back and slip in Diaby to slot home.Penalty shootout hero Emiliano Martínez was unable to thwart Solanke from the spot in the first period, but he was called into action to perverse Villa’s lead when he denied Dango Ouattara from point-blank range just after the hour mark. However, Villa were the dominant side for the majority of the contest, and with just over 10 minutes to play, they extended their advantage when Rogers found Watkins, who continued to cause the Cherries issues, forcing Neto off his line to leave Bailey with a simple tap-in which wrapped up victory.
Late chances from substitute Enes Ünal were immaterial, as the result sees Unai Emery’s men put their checkered recent home form to one side, securing three potentially vital points as they put six points between themselves and fifth-placed Tottenham, albeit having played two more matches. For Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth, defeat is far from disastrous having mathematically guaranteed safety, with a top-half finish not yet beyond them despite a tricky run-in featuring away trips to Arsenal and Chelsea.Wissa shines in Brentford’s trashing of Luton, Burnley dull the Blades in the relegation zone clashElsewhere, a scintillating first-half performance from Crystal Palace saw them smash West Ham 5-2 at Selhurst Park and record successive Premier League wins for the first time this campaign.With a stunning victory at Anfield last weekend easing any lingering relegation concerns, Palace began confidently, forcing West Ham into a complete retreat early on. And an inevitable opener duly arrived when Michael Olise nodded in Joachim Andersen’s floated cross with only seven minutes gone, ruining West Ham’s hopes of a first away clean sheet since 28 December. The Eagles’ claws were truly out, and following a miss from Tyrick Mitchell, Eberechi Eze netted with a thunderous bicycle kick into the roof of Łukasz Fabiański’s net, as his initial save from Jean-Philippe Mateta proved in vain.
That instinctive finish marked the Englishman’s eighth league goal of the season, but Oliver Glasner’s rampant men weren’t done there, and quickly added two more goals with just over half an hour gone. Palace’s third came when Emerson inadvertently poked Will Hughes’ cross into his own net, before Mateta capped off a brilliant first-half showing by side-footing home Olise’s slide-rule pass from six yards.
On his 693rd Premier League game, this was the earliest a David Moyes’ side had ever found themselves 4-0 down. Although he’d have been happy to see some fighting spirit in his side, as, against the run of play, West Ham found a ray of hope before halftime when Michail Antonio continued his knack of scoring in this fixture by stabbing home from inside the penalty area. This was a rare positive in an extremely difficult London derby for the visitors, but Palace simply picked up from where they left off after the break, with Eze thwarted only by the brilliance of Fabiański’s low stop to his left.
Not disheartened, Eze remained unplayable beyond the hour mark, and perhaps added a few million to his summer price tag when he produced a sublime nutmeg assist that allowed Mateta to double his tally for the afternoon, shortly before he was substituted to rapturous applause. The tempo of the game then finally slowed along with the goals, and West Ham managed a late consolation in the most bizarre circumstances late on. Mitchell’s lofted back-pass ought not to have caused Dean Henderson any issues, but an inexplicable miss-kick saw the ball bounce beyond the keeper and trickle over the goal-line.
Moyes’ side were still left humbled regardless, and with a testing run to end the campaign – including games against title-chasing duo Liverpool and Manchester City – the Scotsman will have a job on his hands to stop West Ham’s European dreams from fizzling out.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 34SaturdayLuton – Brentford 1-5 (0-2)/Berry 90+2 – Wissa 24, 45+1, Pinnock 62, Lewis-Potter 64, Schade 86/Sheffield Utd – Burnley 1-4 (0-2)/Hamer 52 – Bruun Larsen 38, Assignon 41, Foster 58, Gudmundsson 71/Wolverhampton – Arsenal 0-1 (0-1)/Trossard 45/SundayEverton – Nott.Forest 2-0 (1-0)/Gueye 29, McNeill 76/Crystal Palace – West Ham 5-2 (4-1)/Olise 7, Eze 16, Emerson 20 og, Mateta 32, 64 – Antonio 40, Mitchell 89 og/Aston Villa – Bournemouth 3-1 (1-1)/Rogers 45+1, Diaby 57, Bailey 78 – Solanke 31 pen/18:30: (5.70) Fulham (4.10) Liverpool (1.58)***odds are subject to change***