Aston Villa Overcome Struggling West Ham to Capitalise on Rivals Faltering

The away side faced an early setback when Jean-Clair Todibo picked up an injury during the warm-up, yet Mads Hermansen dived to push Lucas Digne’s shot around the post, while Konstantinos Mavropanos cleared the follow-up corner to prevent any immediate further trouble.

The crowd at Villa Park had plenty to cheer about after 15 minutes, when Matty Cash took a quick free-kick to Jadon Sancho, who delivered an excellent pass allowing John McGinn to slot home a clean first-time shot from just outside the penalty area.

Soon after the goal, Taty Castellanos and Amadou Onana both nodded efforts astray from opposite ends, then Ollie Watkins missed the target before setting up Morgan Rogers, whose attempt was smartly stopped by Hermansen.

Rogers saw another effort stopped by Aaron Wan-Bissaka as Aston Villa kept slicing through the opposition defence effortlessly, and he was later thwarted by an incredible goal-line clearance from Mavropanos.

The Greek defender positioned himself perfectly once more to block a Watkins drive, and Ezri Konsa headed over the bar not long before half-time.

Nuno Espirito Santo made a pair of substitutions at the interval, but the home team stayed aggressive, with Hermansen tipping a fierce Ross Barkley volley onto the bar and Matty Cash nearly scoring from distance shortly afterwards.

As the second half wore on, West Ham began to fashion some chances, though Matheus Fernandes was halted by Digne, Emiliano Martinez caught Axel Disasi’s header, and Konsa headed clear Jarrod Bowen’s shot.

Pablo then fired his attempt high over the bar, and that miss was made worse when Hermansen fumbled Rogers’ strike, allowing Watkins to react quickly and score.

Tammy Abraham’s bold chip in the dying seconds rolled wide without danger, but Aston Villa had already secured the points, ending their four-match winless streak in the Premier League to take advantage of nearby teams slipping up, leaving them just one point off third-placed Manchester United and five points ahead of Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest’s victory against Tottenham Hotspur has left West Ham trailing Spurs by a single point, following the Hammers’ second loss in their past nine outings across all competitions.