Aston Villa played host to AFC Bournemouth in a 3pm Premier League clash on Saturday, October 26th.
The Villians have had a prolific start to 2024/25 on both the domestic and European front.
Ahead of taking on Bournemouth, Aston Villa sat 4th in the Premier League table and within touching distance of one of the title favourites, Arsenal.
After a few changes in midweek, Aston Villa manager Unai Emery switched things up once more at Villa Park for the meeting with the Cherries.
Ollie Watkins returned to the starting line-up despite fellow striker Jhon Duran excelling in midweek versus Bologna.
And after being taken off in midweek, Amadou Onana was back in from the off while Matt Cash and Lucas Digned returned and that back, allowing Ezri Konsa to feature in his favoured centre-back role over the dropped Diego Carlos.
Aston Villa started the game brightly and saw a John McGinn effort ruled out by VAR after 28 minutes.
Forget Ross Barkley, Jacob Ramsey was Aston Villa MVP vs Bournemouth
Villa were not deterred by their disallowed effort, though, and continued to dominate the game in every aspect.
Opposition fans praised Emery’s Aston Villa vs Bournemouth while it was substitute Ross Barkley who eventually opened the scoring after 76 minutes.
While much of the attention will be put on Barkley post-match, Jacob Ramsey deserves high praise for his role in the game.
The 23-year-old has been in and out of the starting eleven in the Premier League this term but was in top form when given a chance against Bournemouth.
As well as causing the Cherries’ backline problems, Ramsey also deserves credit for the defensive shift he put in on the day.
As per Sofascore, Ramsey produced two key passes, won all but one of his ground duels, completed all of his dribbles, made two interceptions, one block and had 46 touches.
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Jacob Ramsey giving Unai Emery selection headache at Aston Villa
Ramsey’s display against Bournemouth will please Emery but the Aston Villa boss will have something of a selection dilemma very soon.
Winger Jaden Philogene was handed a red card against Fulham last weekend and thus missed Saturday’s game as a result.
But when he does eventually return, Emery will have three wide players largely competing for one spot in Ramsey, Philogene and Leon Bailey.
The other two attacking midfield positions are taken up by Morgan Rogers and John McGinn, neither of whom are likely to be dropped in the league anytime soon.
