Bournemouth 0-1 Aston Villa

Ollie Watkins wrote his name into the Aston Villa history books after scoring the only goal of the game to fire his side to a Premier League victory against Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium.

The striker tapped home a cross in first-half stoppage time to become the club’s record Premier League goalscorer, running off to celebrate with a jubilant away support after netting his 75^th top flight goal for Villa and surpassing Gabby Agbonlahor.

The visiting Villans were rarely troubled at the other end – despite coming under pressure late on after Jacob Ramsey was shown a second yellow card with ten minutes to play.

The Cherries’ best chance of the day came in stoppage time when Daniel Jebbison headed over from point-blank range after Emi Martínez had produced a superb stop to keep out Antoine Semenyo, but Villa held on to their clean sheet and picked up a precious three points.

Victory on the south coast takes Unai Emery’s team up to sixth in the table, level on points with the two sides above them, Newcastle United and Chelsea, with two matches to play, while also securing European football for a third successive season.

Villa headed into a Premier League game without Youri Tielemans in the starting XI for the first time this season as the Belgian missed out through injury, with Lucas Digne, Tyrone Mings, Amadou Onana and Ramsey coming into the team as Emery made four changes.

Following a cagey opening, one of the quartet, Onana, created the first chance of the game after 14 minutes, winning the ball back and bursting into the Bournemouth half before shifting the ball to Watkins.

The ball eventually found its way to Ramsey on the edge of the box and he worked space for a shot before curling an effort over the crossbar.

Evanilson, who bagged a stoppage-time leveller in the 1-1 draw between the sides earlier in the season, tested Martínez with a glancing header in the only other opportunity of note in the first half an hour.

With the opening 45 minutes drawing to a close, Emery’s team upped the ante and saw Marco Asensio come within inches of scoring when he sent a low shot against the base of the post.

Villa surged forward again in stoppage time and were only denied a goal by a fine double save from Kepa Arrizabalaga, who stuck a foot out to block Boubacar Kamara’s header before getting down to catch Matty Cash’s follow up.

But moments later the travelling support did have a goal to celebrate, and it was a particularly poignant one as Watkins tapped home Rogers’ cross to become the club’s top Premier League goalscorer.

An immediate attack at the start of the second half saw Kamara come close to extending the lead, lashing a shot just past the post.

Bournemouth, who came into the game on a five-game unbeaten run, were struggling to break down Villa in open play, instead turning to set pieces as a way to draw level.

John McGinn and Pau Torres came on for Asensio and Mings with 20 minutes to play as the men in white looked to see out an eighth away win in the top flight this season.

However, their task suddenly became much harder when Ramsey was shown a second yellow card for clipping David Brooks as the Cherries looked to counter-attack.

Buoyed by the sudden turn of events, Semenyo dragged a shot across goal and narrowly wide of the far post before Martínez parried a header from Evanilson away.

Villa held firm until the final minute of the six added on when sub Jebbison headed over from two yards out under heavy pressure from Cash, with Martínez having made a superb save to keep out Semenyo's initial effort.

A roar of delight came from the away end at full-time as the team kept up their push for a top-five finish.