Aston Villa will be kicking themselves after they dropped valuable points in the Premier League after their 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Saturday.
It was a frustrating game for Unai Emery in many ways. On the one hand, his Aston Villa players should have put the game to bed by the 96th minute, but on the other, they conceded a goal right at the death and it proved to be costly.
After Villa’s Champions League win over Bologna, many were wondering if the team would be a little leggy for this match, but it was far from it.
That first half, especially the opening half an hour, was the best Villa have played at home this season, but it yielded no goals.
John McGinn did have the ball in the back of the net, but it was judged by VAR that the ball had gone out of play when Ollie Watkins had retrieved the ball and played the pass to his captain.
VAR was involved again in the second half, but this time waving away Bournemouth’s protests and cries for a penalty on Antoine Semenyo.
The Bournemouth winger was booked for diving following a tackle from Matty Cash, with Alan Shearer sharing his verdict.
Antoine Semenyo didn’t dive after Matty Cash’s tackle
Villa fans will remember Cash giving away a penalty, in a similar fashion, against this very same team last season, so he has history, in that sense.
But Shearer told Match of the Day that it was ‘harsh’ to book Semenyo for diving and it’s also ‘harsh’ not to award the penalty.
The on-field referee waved it away, stopped play, VAR checked it, but it agreed with the call, despite the Bournemouth players insisting otherwise.
But one thing Shearer wanted to make clear was that when Cash went in for the tackle he ‘doesn’t touch the ball’.
“Yeah, I think so (Bournemouth have a cause for complaint),” said Shearer. “I don’t see this as a dive at all. Cash doesn’t touch the ball, it’s Semenyo that touches the ball. He takes it away from him.
“I think that’s not only harsh getting a yellow card for diving. It’s harsh not only getting a penalty.”
Matty Cash’s stats for Villa’s draw against Bournemouth
Some Villa fans aren’t having Cash and they think that he should have been replaced in the summer.
There was talk in the summer about Villa wanting to sign Lutsharel Geertruida, but it didn’t happen and you wonder what might now happen in January.
Either way, WhoScored rated Cash’s performance against Bournemouth a 6.81 and you feel if he had conceded that penalty, then it would have been far worse.
Cash had his work cut out dealing with Bournemouth’s wide men and perhaps during the reverse fixture, Ezri Konsa will be deployed in that role.
| Key passes | Passing accuracy | Aerials won | Clearances | Fouls | Interceptions | Touches | Rating |
| 1 | 88.6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 56 | 6.81 |
