Two points lost – Barkley

Goalscorer Ross Barkley conceded that Aston Villa’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon represented “two points lost” for Unai Emery’s men.

The midfielder looked to have sealed a third-straight win in all competitions for Villa when sliding home the opener 14 minutes from time, but Evanilson’s 96-minute header snatched a share of the spoils for the Cherries.

He feels he and his teammates must now take lessons from yesterday’s game in order to get back on the winning trail.

“Disappointing, really,” Barkley admitted post-match.

“After we got the goal, I thought we could’ve played out a little bit better. We went long a lot after that, and [it was] disappointing to concede the goal late from a set piece.

“We work a lot on our defensive side of the game, and we could have handled that a little bit better and come away with the three points.

“Hopefully, we can take lessons out of today’s game, because we’ve got to fight until the end. Today, it’s like two points lost.”

Netting his first goal of the season after meeting Leon Bailey’s knock-down, Barkley described the feeling of scoring in front of a packed Holte End.

The 30-year-old did score three goals for the Lions on loan from Chelsea during the 2020/21 season, with one at Villa Park, however this came behind closed doors, during the second Covid-19 lockdown.

He added: “Last time I was here, it was the second lockdown, so there weren’t any fans at the ground.

“I wasn’t able to experience it, or score in front of the Holte End or at Villa Park, so it was nice for me to finally get that in front of the fans.

“A nice feeling, but still, for the team inside, it’s disappointing really.”