Bournemouth 0-1 Aston Villa: Watkins boosts 10-man visitors in Champions League chase

Ollie Watkins became Aston Villa’s all-time leading Premier League goalscorer as the 10-man visitors won 1-0 at Bournemouth, boosting their hopes of Champions League qualification.

Watkins prodded Morgan Rogers’ searching cross home deep into first-half stoppage-time for his 75th Premier League goal for the club – one more than Gabriel Agbonlahor managed.

That goal came after a period of sustained Villa pressure, with Marco Asensio striking the base of the post and Boubacar Kamara’s header drawing a fine save from Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The second half was a tepid affair until Jacob Ramsey was sent off in the 80th minute, having tripped David Brooks while on a yellow card.

Bournemouth piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser, but Antoine Semenyo drilled wide and Emiliano Martinez acrobatically kept out Evanilson’s close-range header.

One final chance fell Bournemouth’s way in stoppage time, but Martinez got a touch to Semenyo’s effort and Matty Cash heroically nodded the ball away from the line to secure the points.

The win takes Villa above Nottingham Forest and into sixth place, only behind Newcastle United and Chelsea – who face off on Sunday – on goal difference.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, stay 10th, two points behind Brentford and Brighton in the race for eighth place and potential Europa Conference League qualification, after both of their rivals won earlier on Saturday.

Magnificent Ollie Watkins

His 75th goal makes him Aston Villa’s all-time top Premier League goalscorer pic.twitter.com/eLIKc8Y5Jp

— Premier League (@premierleague) May 10, 2025

Data debrief: Watkins takes Agbonlahor’s crown, cards aplenty at Vitality

Watkins was the hero at the Vitality Stadium, with his goal seeing him overtake Agbonlahor as Villa’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League.

And with his 16th league goal of the season, Watkins inched ahead of Chelsea’s Cole Palmer (15) as the most prolific English player in the competition this term.

Watkins and Rogers have now combined for seven Premier League goals for this season, the second-highest tally of any pair of players, after Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak (eight).

Bournemouth were unable to mount a response in a scrappy game featuring seven yellow cards and one red.

There were 21 cards issued in the two meetings between Bournemouth and Villa this season (20 yellows, one red), the most in a fixture in a single campaign in Premier League history.