This was always going to be something of a concern for any Aston Villa side when not playing at Villa Park. Although they entered the Premier League fixture at the Vitality Stadium as favorites, it was the hosts who saw more of the ball and controlled much of the match. Even so, Villa arguably had the more dangerous moments when they did manage to win the ball back.
In particular, the play of Amadou Onana as one of the two defensive midfielders showed what Unai Emery's side is capable of when they are able to work the ball into advanced positions.
The best chance during the opening 45 minutes came when he worked past the defenders of the Cherries and found Jacob Ramsey, whose shot only narrowly went over the crossbar. He also had a couple of long balls that nearly found their way in the path of Ollie Watkins, who started up top at striker.
There was a brief moment of a scare when a clearance by Lucas Digne hit the midfielder in the head from close range. Onana, after needing to stay down for a moment, was able to get going again and continued to be the best AVFC player on the pitch for the visitors.
Not too far removed from that brief injury scare, the Belgium international had a clever step-over that beat two defenders and would have found him in a possible one-on-one situation with the keeper had Bournemouth not fouled when they had. That resulted in a yellow card for Alex Scott.
Around the 42nd minute, Marco Asensio was able to get the ball, and his left-footed shot hit the post, nearly providing the breakthrough. Villa were looking dangerous. It is clear, however, that they would need that extra boost and bit of quality in the final third in order to secure the three points away from VP.
This nearly came when Asensio did well to get the ball out wide to Digne. The left back's cross found the head of Boubacar Kamara, and Matty Cash forced an additional save on the rebound effort. That moment during the closing minutes of the half and stoppage time showed what Villa can do within the blink of an eye.
Final flare from Aston Villa to end the half
That very nearly came when Jacob Ramsey also found himself on the breakaway but was fouled by
Adam Smith, the involved players, and Emiliano Martínez ended up receiving a yellow. Not to be feared, however, as Morgan Rogers soon picked out Watkins and provided the lead right before the halftime whistle.
Then, the to that point quite mostly defensively involved Rogers picked out a pass for Watkins, and the striker not only seized the lead for Villa but also became the club's all-time leading Premier League scorer.