Club are quids in as Buendia fills role that Asensio was planned to do

VILLA made it six home wins in a row on Sunday afternoon after beating Bournemouth 4-0 at Villa Park.

- By JOHN TOWNLEY

Emi Buendia opened the scoring for Villa from a free-kick before Amadou Onana crashed in his first goal of the season later in the first half.

After Emi Martinez saved Antoine Semenyo’s penalty, Ross Barkley added a third for Villa, before Donyell Malen turned in Youri Tielemans’ effort from the edge of the box.

The win leaves Villa in a strong position in the Premier League heading into the November international break - just two points off third place.

Here are the talking points from the win...

Dropping three points in six weeks

The transformation from Villa’s first five league games to their last six has been stark.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why Villa were so poor in their opening matches, with chance creation particularly low.

There’s no doubt that the club's difficult summer window seeped into performances on the pitch, and perhaps there were some questions being asked in the dressing room.

Jacob Ramsey's sale was a real kick in the teeth for Villa, who reluctantly agreed to part ways with their academy graduate - a popular member of the squad.

The closing of the window came just one day after a 3-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace, before draws at Everton and Sunderland followed.

Emery claimed that he had seen improvements in his side’s performances, but it wasn’t until a few home truths were told after the 1-1 draw on Wearside that Villa really turned a corner.

Eight wins from 10 games have followed since, and in the last six weeks, Villa have taken 15 points from a possible 18.

“T am very happy with the win. We are recovering from a bad start to the season,” Emery said on Sky Sports.