West Ham continue their fight for Premier League survival at home to high-flying Aston Villa.
Victory would lift West Ham out of the relegation zone before Leeds visit Brentford in the teatime kick-off.
Villa can go second with a win if Man City slip up elsewhere.
Team News
Igor Julio will return for West Ham after he was ineligible to feature in their 1-1 draw at his parent club – Brighton.
Oliver Scarles (shoulder) could return but Lukasz Fabianski (back) remains absent.
Villa could welcome Emiliano Martinez (back) and Pau Torres (knock) back into contention, subject to late fitness checks.
Ross Barkley (knee) and Tyrone Mings (hamstring) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
West Ham host Aston Villa at London Stadium on Sunday 14 December at 2pm GMT, live on Sky Sports Tennis in the UK.
Stat Attack
- West Ham are winless in their last three meetings against Villa (D3, L2).
- Villa have won one of their last ten league visits to West Ham (W1, D5, L4).
- Three of West Ham’s last five top-flight meetings against Villa ended in 1-1 draws.
- West Ham have kept a single clean sheet all season, which came away at Nottingham Forest in a 3-0 win at end of August.
- Villa have kept two clean sheets in their last five matches (W5).
Prediction
With just one clean sheet all season, it isn’t surprising that West Ham are still flirting with relegation even though they have lost just one of their last five games but they really need to start finding more wins and clean sheets just in case the battle for safety comes down to goal differences come May.
Villa meanwhile are just riding the crest of a wave with eight straight wins after they ended Basel’s decade-long unbeaten home form in the Europa League, but they can’t keep relying on impact substitutes to snatch wins as they’ve done lately so I would like to see more clinical quality from the starters here.
West Ham though have been quite a bogey away trip for Villa but on current form with West Ham’s leaky defence, you have to think that Villa can nick this.
Prediction: West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa
Result: West Ham 2-3 Aston Villa
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