West Ham vs Aston Villa: Premier League match preview
A look ahead to this weekend's Premier League fixture at Upton Park
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham face Aston Villa in good form, losing just one of their last five games, winning three and drawing the other. They sit in fifth place joint on points with fourth placed Arsenal.
Aston Villa however have lost their last six games.
Sam Allardyce is thoroughly enjoying his time at Upton Park, having completely turned the club around from the situation there were in just six months ago. Having strikers at his disposal is one reason for that.
Last season West Ham were mainly reliant on Carlton Cole, Vaz Te and an injured Andy Carroll. Now, with the signings of Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho, it looks as though none of those from last season could even get a start.
Sakho himself should return this weekend and has a chance to break his own record by scoring seven goals in seven starts. Stuart Downing has also been in superb form of late, this has earned him a re-call to the England squad, and will be presumably buoyed by the news.
Paul Lambert and Roy Keane are probably wondering what they need to do to get a win. Ending their goal drought against Spurs, for which they went five games without a goal, they now hope to end their losing streak.
Their chances however have been severely hampered as Christian Benteke’s red card will mean he’s out of action until 2 December. Star midfielder Fabien Delph also remains a doubt after dislocating his shoulder in training.
A West Ham win could see them climb back in to the top four, whilst an Aston Villa loss would put them on the fringe of the drop zone.
KICK-OFF: Saturday, 3pm
PAST THREE MEETINGS…
Aston Villa 0 West Ham 2 (Nolan 2), Premier League, February 2014
West Ham 0 Aston Villa 0, Premier League, November 2013
Aston Villa 2 (Benteke, N’Zogbia) West Ham 1 (Westwood og), Premier League, February 2013
STATS…
The last time Aston Villa lost six successive defeats was in 1963 when they suffered 11 back to back defeats. They still survived however.
After 10 games last season West Ham had only picked up 10 points and two wins. At the same stage this season The Hammers have 17 points and five wins.
West Ham have the fifth best goal difference in the league, with five.
Aston Villa have the second worst goal difference in the league and have scored the joint fewest goals along with Burnley on five.
ODDS…
West Ham to win: 1.72
Aston Villa to win: 4.8
Draw: 3.6
TV: Highlights on BBC1 at 11.00pm.
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