AFC Bournemouth’s new signing Rayan continued his impressive start to life in the Premier League, netting a fine second-half equaliser to dent Aston Villa’s title hopes and earn the Cherries a 1-1 draw.
Villa entered Saturday’s contest at the Vitality Stadium knowing that a win would, at least temporarily, lift them up to second in the Premier League table ahead of Manchester City’s mammoth clash with Liverpool on Sunday.
And they got off to a good start as Morgan Rogers’ fine effort in the 22nd minute, off some sweet interplay with Jadon Sancho, had them on course to do just that, despite weathering a slew of early Bournemouth chances at the other end.
Emiliano Martinez started with a strong double save to deny Junior Kroupi and Evanilson in quick succession, before Ollie Watkins rightly saw a close-range goal ruled out for offside seconds before Rogers’ opener.
But Rayan, who was signed during the winter transfer window from Vasco da Gama, earned the hosts a share of the spoils after the break with a decisive individual effort – marking his first Premier League goal after he picked up an impressive assist on debut in the Cherries’ 2-0 win at Wolves last weekend.
Andoni Iraola’s men surged forward in search of a winner late on as Ryan Christie was twice denied by spectacular saves from Martinez as the contest ended all square.
Data Debrief: Rayan sparks sweet Cherries outing
Saturday’s outing marked the first time Emery’s side have failed to win a league game in which they scored the opening goal since a 1-1 draw with Sunderland in September, having won eight straight matches prior to this result.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten league run to five matches. Since the turn of the year, only Manchester United (14) and Chelsea (13) have collected more points in the Premier League than the Cherries’ 11 (W3 D2 L1).
Indeed, Bournemouth were full value for the draw, generating 2.31 expected goals (xG) compared to Villa’s modest 0.44.
Much of that threat came through Rayan, who, at 19 years and 188 days, became the youngest South American player to either score or assist in each of his first two Premier League appearances and the sixth different player from the continent to do so.