Bournemouth

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Bournemouth defender Adam Smith has signed a new contract at the club.

The 32 year-old has extended his stay on the South Coast until the end of 2025.

The extension after he made his 350th appearance for the Cherries in their win over Newcastle.

No Bournemouth player has more than Smith's 185 Premier League appearances.

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Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has been speaking to the media ahead of Sunday's Premier League match against Aston Villa.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Iraola confirmed Lloyd Kelly will be out for "some time" with a hamstring strain but otherwise he will have the "same team" available to him as he did for last weekend's win over Sheffield United.

• When asked about his nomination for manager of the month, he said: "I don't really know how these things work but I think it's good because it means we had good results this month. I think the team is doing well."

• On the consistency of his team selection: "Normally when you don't change the team it's because they are playing well and you are happy with the performances. We have to adjust from game to game so maybe we have to think different things but normally when the results are positive you try to change the least things."

• On opponents Aston Villa: "They are in a really good moment - they have been for a really long time. They are two points from the top of the league so they are face to face with the best teams in the competition. They score lots of goals, are well coached, very compact, dangerous in transitions and good on set pieces."

• Bournemouth "have to perform even better" than they did in November's win over Newcastle: "Maybe we won't have as many chances but we need to be more clinical. We have to score when we have the chances because they do not give a lot of chances. We also need to trust ourselves and remember if we are at 100% we are uncomfortable for any team."

Follow the rest of Friday's Premier League news conferences here

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• Bournemouth have won four of their six Premier League meetings with Aston Villa (L2), only having a higher win rate against Huddersfield (75%) in the competition than against Villa (67%).

• Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has won both of his previous meetings with Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, with his Villarreal side winning home (2-0) and away (5-1) games against Rayo Vallecano in the 2021-22 La Liga campaign.

• Bournemouth have won three of their last four Premier League games (L1), having been winless in 13 before this (D3 L10). They have not won more consecutive games in the top flight since a run of four between May and August in 2018, while they last won three in a row in the same season in March 2016.

• Aston Villa's rate of 2.4 goals per game is their highest across a league season since 1931-32 (2.48).

• Including penalties, Bournemouth have both scored the fewest (1) and conceded the most (10) goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season.

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking on the Cherries Unpicked podcast, BBC Radio Solent's Kris Temple offers his thoughts on Bournemouth's next match against high-flying Aston Villa: "I'm not changing anything. I don't think you can bring Philip Billing back, not after the way we've played in the last two games with creating 40-odd scoring opportunities.

"Justin Kluivert has been a central part of that. He's been flexible in the number-10 role. Dominic Solanke was brilliant against Newcastle and didn't need to be that against Sheffield United apart from his off-the-ball running. I don't think you can bring Billing back in.

"Having taken two opportunities to get themselves into the right place in terms of the system, the personnel and the attacking nature of the football, now what have you got against these teams?

"Aston Villa have won six in seven, eight in ten [stats accurate before their match against Legia Warsaw]. They've got Manchester City and Arsenal to come after Bournemouth, so I don't know how that factors into Unai Emery's team selection.

"If you're a Bournemouth fan and you're not really looking forward to Sunday's game, give up football. It's as simple as that."

Listen to the full Cherries Unpicked episode here

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I wouldn’t say Bournemouth fans will be feeling confident after back-to-back wins, but they will feel a little bit better than where they were.

They were under-achieving at the start of the season that’s for certain. There was a real worry, but those wins came at a really good time to take them away from the pack, both psychologically and to give a bit of breathing space.

Not so much Luton, but Sheffield United and Burnley are the sides they will want to get themselves away from. Andoni Iraola was brought in to play attractive, free-flowing football, score goals and get on the front foot and it has been a big couple of weeks for them.

They wanted to be more free-flowing, they wanted to be more aggressive with the front press and that’s what they recruited for. They needed to play better and they needed time for the manager to settle, but they still need more points to feel it has been successful so far.