AFC Bournemouth vs. Aston Villa 8/6/22 EPL Soccer Picks, Predictions, and Odds

AFC Bournemouth and Aston Villa face off on Saturday in an English Premier League showdown at Dean Court. In February 2020, it was Bournemouth that won 2-1. 

Bournemouth only had to play a few years in the Championship before making it back up to the EPL for this season. It took a victory over their rivals Nottingham Forest to secure their spot. The man in charge, Scott Parker, has made it clear that he isn’t very happy heading into the season and said he thinks this squad is actually worse than last year. He said there are a lot of holes that need to be filled, and that could mean some struggles early in the season. AFC Bournemouth has struggled heading into this game, having lost three straight games. In the last game, Real Sociedad, they were defeated 2-1. 

On the other side of this matchup is Aston Villa, who have a lot of buzz surrounding them heading into this season. Last season Aston Villa were inconsistent, and they finished in 14th place in the Premier League having picked up 45 points. Ollie Watkins has been the top scorer for Aston Villa in each of the last two seasons, and he will be leaned on heavily again in this season. Leon Bailey has also looked quite impressive during the preseason, and there is a lot of pressure on him now to have a big season. Aston Villa has looked good in the preseason, and even two games ago against Manchester United, they were able to play to a 2-2 draw. In the last game against Rennes, they secured a 2-1 victory. The defense has shown some holes in the last couple of games and that will be something that needs to be cleaned up going forward. 

There is a lot of concern about this Bournemouth team heading into the season, and they are going to get out to a very slow start. Bournemouth’s biggest issue this season is going to be their scoring, and that’s what is going to let them down in this game. Aston Villa scored two goals in the last game, and I expect that’s where they will finish n this game. Back Aston Villa on the money line.