Well, another impressive result for Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side who now have a clear Premier League goal remaining in their season, to achieve their highest finish since 1996 and make a return to football’s finest European competition.
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00:00 Aston Villa have moved one step closer to securing UEFA Champions League football,
00:06 now six points above Tottenham Hotspur in the race for the top four.
00:10 An incredible 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth here.
00:13 I say incredible because the effort levels, the determination and the football as well.
00:18 The immense team play, the quick passing, the runs in behind, the ball control, the dribbling, the finishing.
00:25 Everything was just sublime from Villa today. It's seriously impressive.
00:30 Add into that as well the fact that Villa were playing at the distance against Lost Galil midweek.
00:35 Just under 72 hours ago they were in the north of France, going to extra time and penalties.
00:41 An incredibly tense atmosphere in Lille to get through to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
00:48 The amount of energy that that took. So much energy expended.
00:52 It's not like Unai Emery can rotate too much because of all the injuries he's had to cope with this season.
00:57 So the fact that they've even beaten Dortmund with a full stop is impressive.
01:00 But the fashion they did it in was just sublime.
01:03 The goals today from Morgan Rodgers, Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby.
01:07 Diaby and Bailey scoring tap-ins, but the work before those goals was very good for Molly Watkins.
01:13 Crossing the ball across the far post after some great work.
01:16 Getting past the likes of Zabani, rounding Neto for one of those as well.
01:20 Watkins deserved a goal. He could just tell at the end he really wanted to get one in the race for the golden boot.
01:25 He didn't get one, but he did get two assists adding to his tally.
01:28 I think it might even be a dozen assists now in the Premier League this season.
01:32 He must be back to the top of the charts in the Nihilist top tier for direct goal involvements.
01:37 If you include goals and assists. So a very good performance from him.
01:40 Rodgers though, his goal, my word.
01:43 Bailey with a very impressive through ball outside of his boot. Completely tore the Bournemouth defence to shreds.
01:52 And then the finish from Rodgers taking the ball into his strides.
01:55 And then beating Adam Smith I believe it was with a cut inside and putting it to the roof of the net.
02:00 Great composure after running about 20 yards with the ball.
02:03 He's really settled into the Premier League so quickly has Rodgers.
02:06 Only 21 years of age. He expected to take a little while to bed in.
02:11 Pretty much immediately he's had a lot of starts under Emery because of the injuries to Chacom Ramsey.
02:16 He doesn't look fazed. He's enjoying the time of his life at the moment.
02:19 And he's only going to get better and better. It's scary how good that boy could become.
02:23 But it wasn't just him. It was a team performance. Watkins as I say.
02:27 Leon Bailey as well. Could have had another assist for a very impressive through ball to Watkins in the second half.
02:33 The way he clipped the ball over the top to Watkins with curl and technique was just sublime.
02:38 That player is completely different this season to last.
02:41 Diaby a little bit of a struggle today despite his goal.
02:44 He did get his goal which ups his rating and my player ratings.
02:47 But his decision making was poor.
02:49 And then Matty Cash giving away a penalty for Dominic Solanke in the first half.
02:53 Terrible defending in that instance.
02:55 But we'll try and ignore that. Keep the positives going for Villa as they move six points clear of Tottenham.
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