West Ham welcome Aston Villa to London Stadium in a huge clash in the race for European qualification.
Victory would see West Ham stay seventh but move to within one point of sixth-placed Manchester United, whilst Villa will stay fourth with a win and move five points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham.
Team News
Emerson Palmieri could return for West Ham after he missed their last two matches with a groin injury.
Maxwell Cornet (hamstring) remains absent.
Villa could be without Ollie Watkins and Diego Carlos after the pair suffered respective knee and hamstring injuries during their midweek Europa Conference League win over Ajax.
Ezri Konsa was suspended for that game but is available for the trip to East London, whilst John McGinn is banned after he was sent off in Villa’s last domestic match – a 4-0 home loss to Tottenham.
Jacob Ramsey (foot), Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara (both knee) and Emiliano Buendia (ACL) remain on the side-lines.
When is Kick-Off?
West Ham host Aston Villa at the London Stadium in a 2pm GMT kick-off on Sunday 17 March,………
Stat Attack
- West Ham have lost one of their last 11 league meetings against Villa (W6, D4, L1).
- Villa are winless in their last eight league visits to West Ham (D4, L4).
- Villa’s Watkins has scored in each of his last two appearances against West Ham (W1, D1).
- No West Ham player has contributed more assists in the Premier League this season than James Ward-Prowse (7).
- Watkins has scored five goals in Villa’s last three away games in the top-flight (W3).
Prediction
Considering that their last league outing was a game of two halves in a 2-2 draw against Burnley, West Ham certainly started their Europa League win over Freiburg from where they finished against the Clarets oozing confidence and a ruthless end product which was just clinical.
David Moyes’ Hammers now need to bring that momentum into this game because this is a huge opportunity for them to kick on if want Europa League football next season – in the event that they fail to win this season’s competition.
Villa meanwhile were absolutely clinical to beat Ajax on Thursday night in the Europa Conference League but after Tottenham lost their league visit to Fulham, this is a huge chance for them to regain the momentum in the race for fourth.
Unai Emery’s Villains though will have to be on their top form defensively because if West Ham turn up ready to start hammering their way into an unlikely top-four push – anything can happen in the run-in – then they will need to get a result to give themselves belief.
I therefore do expect this game to be edgy but openly competitive which could well see a few goals and an entertaining draw would be a fair outcome.
Prediction: West Ham 2-2 Aston Villa
Result: West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa
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