Bournemouth 2-2 Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins rescues a point for Unai Emery's Villa

A last-gasp header from Ollie Watkins earned Villa a point they scarcely deserved at Bournemouth to keep Unai Emery’s extraordinary season on track and maintain their push for a top four finish.

Watkins glanced Moussa Diaby’s header in the far corner in the 90th minute to send the small band of away supporters wild and deflate Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth, who had been excellent.

Iraola is beginning to make the kind of impact that the club’s owners hoped he would when they ruthlessly dispensed with Gary O’Neil in the summer. Three wins and a draw from the last five games, coupled with an open and attacking style suggests they may yet be proved right.

This was a frenetic encounter, packed with entertainment throughout. Bournemouth opened the scoring with the first real chance of the game.

Villa were too casual as they attempted to play out from the back and Ryan Christie intercepted Diego Carlos’ sloppy pass and quickly fed Antoine Semenyo who stroked the ball into the bottom left corner.

The former Bristol City forward might have added a second a few minutes later when Christie again found him in space on the left but this time Emiliano Martinez was able to save with his knees. 

Villa looked out of sorts, something not lost on Emery, who was waving his arms and stamping his feet in the technical area.

It had the desired effect and Leon Bailey soon darted in off the left and shot wonderfully into the far corner to restore parity.

It provided the impetus Villa needed and they soon scored again when Diego Carlos scored from close range after Lucas Digne had headed the ball into the area.

A lengthy VAR check ensued, during which both sets of supporters voiced their dislike for the technology, and Digne was eventually deemed to have been offside in the build up.

Back came Bournemouth, with Semenyo a constant problem for Ezri Konsa down Bournemouth’s left. Villa were again indebted to their World Cup winning goalkeeper Martinez who made an extraordinary point-blank save to deny Dominic Solanke his seventh goal of the season.

Eight minutes were added to an action-packed half, during which both sides came close to scoring. Bournemouth, when Justin Kluivert was denied by a brilliant last-ditch tackled from Konsa and Villa when Douglas Luiz saw his shot brilliantly saved by Neto after more excellent work from Bailey.

The second half started no less ebulliently with Bournemouth regaining the lead when Milos Kerkez marauded down the left and slid the ball into the area for Solanke to execute a perfect turn and finish.

Bournemouth looked in full control, limiting Villa to precious little and creating many more threatening situations themselves. They survived a scare when Jhon Duran’s shot deflected off Marcos Senesi and onto the post and, after that, must have thought they had done enough.

Watkins had other ideas and ghosted away from his marker to expertly divert his header into the far corner and leave Emery pumping his fists in delight.