2024-25 Premier League: Week 23 – Aston Villa vs West Ham

Top-four chasing Aston Villa meet struggling West Ham in a Premier League battle at Villa Park. 

Victory will see Villa stay eighth and move to within two points of the top four, whilst West Ham could go 12th for at least a few hours with a win.

 

Team News

John McGinn could be in contention for Villa following his recovery from a hamstring injury.

Amadou Onana (hamstring), Ross Barkley (calf) and Pau Torres (metatarsal) remain sidelined,

West Ham will be without defender, Konstantinos Mavropanos following his red card in their 2-0 loss against Crystal Palace.

Jarrod Bowen (foot) and Crysencio Summerville (hamstring) could be in contention to return.

Jean-Clair Todibo (knock), Niclas Fullkrug (hamstring) and Michail Antonio (leg) remain ruled out.

 

When is Kick-Off?

Villa host West Ham at Villa Park on Sunday 26 January at 4:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• Villa are unbeaten in their last four league games against West Ham (W2, D2).
• West Ham have lost one of their last six league visits to Villa (W3, D2, L1).
• Villa have won both meetings against West Ham this season in all competitions by a 2-1 result, having won at the Hammers on the opening day then at home in the FA Cup earlier this month.
• Ollie Watkins has scored in three of Villa’s last four league matches.
• No West Ham player has produced more passes in the league this season than Max Kilman (1,108).

 

Prediction

With a lack of composure and quality in their narrow Champions League loss at Monaco, Villa need to reset and try to show the same intensity and quality which saw them fight back to draw at Arsenal last weekend but they can’t afford to be sloppy – especially with the gap to the top-four race beginning to widen.

West Ham though have their own issues after a lacklustre display in their loss to Palace with no shots on target so a massive improvement is needed if they want to start climbing the table, starting with better composure in their end product so Bowen could be a welcome return if he is fit enough to feature.

Nevertheless I am not expecting much here if both teams turn up with similar quality to their last outings but Villa really should be able to step it up a gear and have the edge.

Prediction: Aston Villa 1-0 West Ham

Result: Aston Villa 1-1 West Ham