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Two goals from the left hand side with Jacob Ramsey and Emerson meant spoils were shared as Aston Villa and West Ham drew 1-1 at Villa Park.
Villa came into the game in mixed form, picking up a decent point against Arsenal at The Emirates last weekend but suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat away to Monaco in the week in the Champions League.
The Hammer’s have had varied luck lately also, where despite beating Fulham 12 days ago at the London Stadium failed to pick up back to back wins at their home ground after losing 2-0 to Crystal Palace last week.
Ollie Watkins started up front for Villa today, playing his 200th game for the club and leaving Jhon Duran on the bench after the two failed to generate any luck up front together in the week. West Ham went for five at the back, with three in midfield including Carlos Soler and Lucas Paqueta and Mohamed Kudus partnered each other up front.
Villa kicked off the match and started on the front foot. Their early dominance was rewarded in the 8th minute, as Jacob Ramsey flicked it round Vladimir Coufal and slammed home a close range effort on his left foot, nestling nicely in the bottom right hand corner. It’s his second goal of the season, his first since September when he scored against Young Boys in the Champions League.
Villa seemingly doubled their lead in the 10th minute, after Morgan Rogers tapped into an empty net from an Ollie Watkins pass, but the former Brentford striker was ruled offside and Roger’s goal was chalked off.
Unai Emery’s side continued to dominate from here, and had a good chance on the counter attack in the 22nd minute, where Morgan Rogers broke away but a poor pass failed to slip Leon Bailey in and West Ham escaped again.
Disaster struck for Villa in the 30th minute when captain Tyrone Mings went down after a collision with Mohamed Kudus holding his knee, but rose again a few moments later in an attempt to carry on. However, just six minutes later, he pulls up again and was forced off for Ian Maatsen, with Luca Digne, who started at left back, movibg to left centre-half next to Ezri Konsa.
Digne struggled in his new role, continuously giving the ball away and allowing West Ham to get back into the game more and more as the first half went on. The game then became very scrappy coming into first half added time, with Youri Tielemans and Aaron Cresswell becoming the first players to enter the book in the game.
Just two minutes later in the 7th minute of added time, VAR was called into action to check a red card after Lucas Paqueta went down holding his chest, after Lucas Digne seemingly elbowed him in the chest. It was quick to dismiss this though, and rightfully so. Almost immediately after this was cleared, Matty Cash goes down from some Tomas Soucek contact, but referee Peter Bankes had none of it.
The second half continued with a slow, sludgy tone as Lucas Digne went down holding his ankle in the first minute of the second half. Just two minutes later, a collision between Ollie Watkins and Max Kilman see both men go down holding their heads.
The scrappy nature of the second half suited West Ham as they started gaining more of a foot in the game, and came close to an equaliser in the 61st minute when Emi Martinez missed the ball in mid-air, and Carlos Soler collected the stray ball and puts it towards an empty net, but Ezri Konsa comes flying in at the last moment to block the ball off the line and save the Argentinian goalkeeper’s blushes.
Tomas Soucek saw his name enter the book in the 63rd minute, quickly followed by Morgan Rogers in the 64th. Soucek’s midfield partner Edson Alvarez joined him in the book on the 68th minute, contributing to the tense feel in the game.
More subs were made in the 65th minute where Jhon Duran entered the action for Ollie Watkins, and Donyell Malen was gifted his first minutes as a Villa player, replacing Leon Bailey.
However, West Ham would finally find a leveler in the 70th minute, where a deep Edson Alvarez ball found Emerson unmarked at the back post, and the Italian headed home to Martinez’s left for his second goal of the season.
Villa reacted by bringing on a returning John McGinn and Emi Buendia in the 72nd minute, only for West Ham to introduce Danny Ings and Oli Scarles three minutes later.
Both sides would probe from there, with Tomas Soucek, Jhon Duran, Danny Ings and Mohamed Kudus all threatening to find the winner for their side. It would seemingly open up for Lucas Paqueta in the 94th minute who was baring down on goal, but his groin pulled up and he was unable to threaten for the last-gasp winner.
Paqueta thought he nicked it in the last minute of the game where he put the ball into an empty net after Tomas Soucek squared him the ball, but the offside flag was quickly and correctly raised and the exuberant West Ham celebrations were cut out.
The full time whistle was blown shortly after, as both teams claim a fair point. Villa remain 8th, four points off Manchester City in fourth. West Ham could have moved above Crystal Palace and Manchester United with a win, but instead sit 14th on 27 points, six off of Fulham in 10th.
West Ham travel to Stamford Bridge next Monday to face Chelsea, whereas Villa now turn their attention to hosting Celtic on Wednesday night before the Black Country Derby next weekend at the Molineux Stadium.
