ASTON VILLA’S PUSH to secure Champions League football continued as Unai Emery’s men came from behind to beat Bournemouth 3-1 at Villa Park.
Having gone a goal down through Dominic Solanke’s 31st-minute penalty, Villa turned things around with Morgan Rogers equalising in first-half stoppage time, Moussa Diaby putting them ahead just before the hour-mark and Leon Bailey subsequently adding a third in the 78th minute.
Ollie Watkins set up the finishes from Diaby and Bailey as he became the Premier League’s outright leading assist maker this season with 12, to go with the 19 goals that see him sit only one behind joint leaders Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer in the Golden Boot race.
The result, strengthening Villa’s grip on fourth place, caps an excellent few days for the midlands outfit after last Sunday’s 2-0 win at Arsenal and Thursday’s penalty shootout triumph at Lille that took them into the Europa Conference League semi-finals.
With four league games to go they are six points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham, who have two games in hand. Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth stay 13th.
Elsewhere, Crystal Palace dealt a heavy blow to West Ham’s ambitions of playing European football next season with a 5-2 victory at Selhurst Park.
Palace, who had not previously scored more than three goals in a league contest this season, led by four inside 31 minutes, opening the scoring with a Michael Olise header before Eberechi Eze made it two with a superb bicycle kick.
Emerson intensified the Irons’ woes when he turned the ball into his own net before Jean-Philippe Mateta got on the scoresheet just after the half hour mark.
Antonio clawed one back for the visitors before the break but Mateta bagged his second in the 64th minute to re-establish the four-goal buffer.
Just as it looked to be the exclamation mark on a thumping victory, Palace keeper Dean Henderson was caught out and allowed Tyrick Mitchell’s backpass to skip past his foot and into the hosts’ net.
Defeat leaves West Ham eighth, two points adrift of Newcastle and Manchester United above them who both have two games in hand.
