The Cherries extended their winning streak to five matches in all competitions, while Unai Emery’s much-changed side were left to reflect on a disappointing night at the Vitality Stadium.
Amine Adli opened the scoring in the seventh minute, before captain Lewis Cook doubled Bournemouth’s advantage shortly after half-time. Alvaro Rodríguez added the third in the 69th minute to complete a convincing victory and set up a quarter-final against Liverpool.
Bournemouth manager Marco Rose was delighted with the performance but insisted his team could not afford to become complacent.
“We felt after Chelsea that we have to start better, especially if you talk about early good starts of the opponents,” Rose said.
“Now we changed the momentum, now we are a team that starts well, and we have to keep it.
“It feels at the moment that we are in a flow but it is hard work, that’s what we have to know and we have to continue the hard work to stay in it.”
Adli gave the hosts the perfect start by finishing Julio Soler’s cross, putting Bournemouth in front inside seven minutes. Cook’s delivery then crept past goalkeeper Marco Bizot six minutes into the second half, with Rodríguez finishing neatly after a mistake in the Villa defence to make it 3-0.
Rose was pleased with both the result and the clean sheet.
“I’m quite pleased with the result, with the clean sheet, and the performance of the lads,” he said.
“Both teams changed a lot. I think it was quite a watchable game, chances on both sides. But at the end I think a deserved win for us.
“We scored nice goals, we were relentless, won good balls, defended well, had a good goalkeeper, so I’m pleased today.”
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery accepted the result but argued that his players had followed the intended approach, even if they could not match Bournemouth’s intensity or convert their opportunities.
“Bournemouth are very intense and the fans feel strong. We needed to try to play with the same intensity as they were. Then, progressively get our moments to dominate the game and create chances,” Emery said.
“We have won here and drawn before too. Today we lost 3-0. But the same matches we played like today.”
Emery also pointed to the opportunity to give minutes to players including Marco Bizot, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Leon Goretzka and Brian Madjo.
“Playing Marco Bizot, playing Taylor, Goretzka, Madjo. I think it is positive to play those players, and I think they played well. We need players. We play a lot of matches. They need to add their qualities and their capacity to grow up with us.”
The Villa boss admitted his side had failed to take their chances and stop Bournemouth’s fast starts in both halves.
“We created chances and were not clinical,” he said. “The result is bad and we are disappointed, but we have to understand how our way and process is.”
For Rose, the win maintained Bournemouth’s momentum and secured a place in the last eight. For Emery, the challenge is to turn the lessons from the defeat into progress in the competitions that remain.