Aston Villa vs West Ham United

Villa Park forms the backdrop for a high-stakes Premier League showdown between Aston Villa and West Ham United. Though we’re still early in the season, both managers have already come under heavy scrutiny.

It’s not been the start to the new Premier League season Steven Gerrard was hoping for, with Aston Villa suffering defeats in two of their opening three league matches (W1). On the bright side, Villa’s solitary top-flight success this term came on home turf, courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Everton on matchday two. Heading into this round, the ‘Lions’ dismantled lower-league Bolton Wanderers 4-1 in midweek EFL Cup action to restore some confidence ahead of their attempt to defy an underwhelming 12-game Premier League record against West Ham (W1, D5, L6). Achieving that feat would also see Villa string together back-to-back home league wins for the first time under Gerrard’s stewardship. However, each of Gerrard’s four top-flight triumphs at Villa Park were ominously followed up by defeats.

On the other hand, West Ham United’s false start to the 2022/23 Premier League campaign has seen David Moyes’ side lose all three league matches without scoring. With the pressure mounting on Moyes ahead of West Ham’s jubilant 1,000th Premier League outing, the ‘Hammers’ will be desperate to maintain their four-match winning top-flight streak against Villa. Adding to the visitors’ confidence, they’ve won both previous Premier League visits to Villa Park by 3+ goals ‘to one,’ suggesting their scoring duck could come to a halt this weekend. But other than the recent H2H record, there’s not much West Ham can hold onto here. The Londoners have suffered seven defeats in their last nine away league games (W1, D1), including six of the most recent seven!