Aston Villa celebrate their 150th anniversary in a huge Third Round tie against West Ham in 2024-25 FA Cup.
Victory would see Villa reach the Fourth Round for a second straight season, whilst West Ham are looking to avoid losing at this stage in consecutive seasons.
Team News
John McGinn is ruled out for Villa after he suffered a hamstring injury in their 2-1 win at home to Leicester in the Premier League.
Morgan Rogers is back in contention after he was suspended last weekend against the Foxes.
Diego Carlos (foot), Pau Torres (metatarsal), Jhon Duran (suspension) and Jaden Philogene (unspecified) remain sidelined.
West Ham could welcome Lukasz Fabianski back from a head injury which forced him to sit out their last two matches.
Jean-Clair Todibo (knock) and Emerson Palmieri (unspecified) are unlikely to be available for selection.
Michail Antonio (leg) and Jarrod Bowen (foot) remain ruled out
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host West Ham at Villa Park on Friday 10 January at 8pm GMT, live on ITV1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have won two of three previous ties against West Ham in the FA Cup (W2, L1).
- West Ham lost both of their two previous FA Cup trips to Villa (L2), in which they conceded eight goals without reply.
- All three previous FA Cup ties between Villa and West Ham were settled in normal time.
- Villa have lost each of their last six FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition (L6), although they took Chelsea to a replay in the Fourth Round last season before losing 3-1.
- West Ham have won two of their last five all-Premier League ties in the FA Cup (W2, L3).
Prediction
Although they’re currently in a wide-open scrap for fourth in the Premier League, Villa won’t underestimate the FA Cup if want some silverware and I do feel that Unai Emery will go strong – having had almost a week to prepare his players rather than use the usual post-festive excuse for rotation.
I however would like to see them show more consistent final touches than they managed in their league win over Leicester, especially in the first half where they looked rushed at times in their shot-making.
West Ham though are bit of an unknown now that Graham Potter is in charge because they will likely get a new managerial appointment bounce, but he had just one training session to prepare his squad tactically and they’re missing their top firepower which was evident in an unsurprising league loss at Manchester City.
With that in mind, my instinct is that West Ham will give Villa a tough test but Emery’s Villains should just have too much for the Hammers.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 West Ham
Result: Aston Villa 2-1 West Ham
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