Aston Villa Vs Bournemouth [4–0] – Premier League 2025/2026: How Unai Emery Tactics Smashed The Cherries – Tactical Analysis

Aston Villa hosted Bournemouth for Gameweek 11 of the Premier League, and the game ended with a huge 4-0 win for the hosts against one of the in-form teams to start the season.

This win saw the Villans climb to sixth, with 18 points, equal to Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Bournemouth.

After a rocky start, Villa have turned things around, and they still have every chance of finishing the season among the top six.

Bournemouth’s heavy loss will likely have a negative impact on the team mentally, as it will make them doubt their ability to win their upcoming games.

It will be crucial for the coaching staff to work with the players to prevent this from happening, as the team has previously demonstrated that it possesses the necessary quality to win even the most complicated games, as seen in their visit to Spurs earlier this term.

In this tactical analysis, the focus will be on Aston Villa’s solutions to beating Bournemouth, primarily examining how they effectively countered Bournemouth’s high press and utilized set pieces to exploit their defense.

Aston Villa Vs Bournemouth Lineups & Formations

Unai Emery preferred to start the match in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which evolved into a 4-4-2 depending on the situation, with Emiliano Martínez as the goalkeeper.

The defensive line consisted of Matty Cash at right-back, Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres as centre-backs, and Lucas Digne at left-back.

The midfield duo consisted of Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara, with both players being highly involved in both the defensive and attacking phases.

John McGinn and Emiliano Buendía were the two wingers, with Morgan Rogers playing as an advanced playmaker at times and advancing to form an attacking duo with the main striker, Ollie Watkins, at other times.

On the other hand, Andoni Iraola started the match using a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Đorđe Petrović as the goalkeeper, Adam Smith as the right-back, Veljko Milosavljević and Marcos Senesi as centre-backs, and Adrien Truffert as the left-back.

The midfield was initially based on Alex Scott and Tyler Adams as central midfielders, before the latter was injured and replaced by Álex Jiménez, who was then substituted off for Lewis Cook at the start of the second half.

The confusion in these changes has surely affected Bournemouth’s performance, as it provided little consistency to the lineup that started the match, apart from costing the team a substitution.

Upfront, Iraola relied on Antoine Semenyo and Marcus Tavernier on the wings, with Justin Kluivert used as an advanced playmaker just behind the main striker, Evanilson.

Aston Villa Solutions To Bournemouth High Press

Aston Villa succeeded in dealing with Bournemouth’s high press remarkably well, taking advantage of the Cherries aggression.

Aston Villa Intelligent Midfield Passing To Avoid Bournemouth High Pressing

They relied on both Onana and Kamara’s passing abilities to quickly get rid of that first pressing while finding some dangerous passing options, especially on the wings.

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