Aston Villa took advantage of an unexpected boost earlier in the afternoon to keep themselves firmly in the picture for Champions League qualification.
Victory at Bournemouth always felt necessary for Villa to keep themselves in with a realistic chance of sneaking a top-five spot, but before today that always felt like it could only be at the expense of either Chelsea or Newcastle.
A rogue, Ruben Dias-headloss-inducing goalless draw at Southampton, though, has pulled City right back into the calculations and that’s all good news for Villa.
But it was only of any value if they did the necessary at Bournemouth, and thanks to Ollie Watkins’ deft finish late in the first half and some Emi Martinez heroics in a needlessly fraught last 10 minutes after Jacob Ramsey’s daft red card, that’s what they got.
With at least one of Chelsea and Newcastle sure to drop points when they meet tomorrow, Villa are in a far better position than looked possible when a 4-1 defeat at Crystal Palace left them with one win in seven Premier League games, down in 10th having played at least one and in some cases two more games than all those above them back in February.
It’s now seven wins from eight since that defeat, though, and it’s an admirable effort for a weary team who have had to cope with the novel business of juggling Champions League and Premier League commitments and also went to the last four of the FA Cup.
The remaining fixtures are hugely in their favour too, with Villa facing the two stupidest teams in the league either side of their collective-piss-boiling meeting in the Europa League final.
There have been grumblings from Villa about the Spurs game being moved to the Friday evening but it really shouldn’t affect things much. It will still be a half-interested, half-strength Spurs side with eyes firmly on other things. That’s been the case with Spurs for weeks now, and we’ve all seen how that’s worked out for them domestically.
The switch to Friday also gives them first-mover advantage on that penultimate weekend and the opportunity to pile pressure on the rest of the Europe-chasing pack.
And on the final weekend it’s a trip to a Manchester United team that’s either celebrating having once again bantered off the entire sport by winning another trophy despite conspicuous crapness, or facing the truly mortifying reality of having lost out on a major trophy to Spurs. Either way, a fully focused and engaged performance against Villa is unlikely.
Villa were certainly fully focused and engaged here, excellent value for a win that only ever looked in any kind of doubt after Ramsey’s red.
The second yellow was perhaps harsh, but it’s hard to have too much sympathy given the first came for a needlessly over-the-top reaction to being fouled and winning a free-kick. It was, somehow, only the second most unnecessary yellow card of the incident behind Martinez, who charged 70 yards just to get involved for reasons that we don’t fully understand.
The closing stages became unnecessarily tense for Villa, and Martinez had to be alert to make a trio of late saves while a Matty Cash goalline clearance was also vital.
It all felt rather daft, an Andoni Iraola-baitingly soporific Bournemouth suddenly spurred into life by their late numerical advantage. Where that team had been at 11 v 11 is a fair question the players will no doubt face from their manager, and Unai Emery will be mildly narked we’d imagine at Villa doing just about the one thing that seemed like it could energise their hosts who, having watched Brighton and Brentford win earlier, appeared to have accepted their European fate.
It was dispiriting to see so many of the Bournemouth players who have so lit up this Premier League season so far off it in what for more than one could be their penultimate appearance at the Vitality, but for Villa the chance to end another season of growth on a high note seems greater than ever.
