Top-four chasing West Ham welcome Aston Villa to London Stadium in a tricky Premier League encounter.
Victory would see West Ham improve to fifth for at least a few hours, whereas Villa will stay ninth with a win.
Team News
Jarrod Bowen is unlikely to feature for West Ham as he continues to recover from a heel injury which kept him out of Thursday’s Europa League defeat at Sevilla.
Vladimir Coufal (hernia), Andriy Yarmolenko (personal) and Angelo Ogbonna (knee) remain absent.
Aston Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report from Thursday’s win at Leeds as Marvelous Nakamba remains their only absentee with a knee injury.
Stat Attack
- West Ham are unbeaten in their last seven meetings against Aston Villa (W4, D3).
- Villa have claimed just three points from their last six visits to West Ham (D3, L3), including just one point from two visits to the London Stadium (D1, L1).
- Villa’s Ollie Watkins has scored in his last two appearances against West Ham, albeit at Villa Park.
- Two of Tomas Soucek’s three league goals for West Ham this season have been scored at home.
- Watkins has been booked in each of Villa’s last three matches.
Prediction
Having endured two difficult 1-0 losses in separate competitions in the last week, West Ham should feel frustrated because they’re playing well but just lacking the final touch, whilst small defensive mistakes contributed to both defeats so tidying up their defensive play will be key.
I am therefore conflicted over how David Moyes should approach this because victory will keep them in the top-four race, yet he surely will be keen to try and go deep in Europe with an eye on Thursday’s return leg against Sevilla.
Villa meanwhile seem to have rediscovered their groove after netting nine goals in their last three matches without reply, so certainly won’t make this an easy game for West Ham if they turn up and play energetic football complete with great movement and runs.
Either way, this could be a cracking battle because West Ham will be eager to head into Thursday’s home leg with a positive performance, whereas Villa will be up for this game given their attacking form at present so I reckon that this could get scrappy and possibly boil down to a single goal.
Prediction: West Ham 1-0 Aston Villa
Result: West Ham 2-1 Aston Villa
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