Aston Villa Match Preview

After current Premier League Champions Liverpool brought an end to West Ham United’s unbeaten start to 2021 on Sunday, the Hammers are hoping to get back on track by collecting three points when they travel to Villa Park to face Aston Villa tonight.

David Moyes’ side are still currently fifth in the Premier League table and will be looking to start February with the form that carried them through most of January.

The East Londoners will do the double over Dean Smith’s Villains should they achieve the desired outcome here, given that they edged a tight encounter in Stratford, coming out 2-1 winners during an unbeaten month last November.

A win here will mean back-to-back successes on their travels for the Hammers and they will be keen to try to follow up their victory against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park eight days ago.

Whilst both teams are in form, the hosts have had one extra day to prepare for this game and also go into the encounter having notched up an impressive 1-0 away win at Southampton last Saturday. Before that though, they suffered a surprise 3-2 defeat to Burnley a week ago.

Ahead of the match in Birmingham, West Ham fans will be pleased to discover that the omens definitely go in their favour, as Villa have won just one of their last nine games against the side from the East End of the capital.

Jesse Lingard could be handed his debut after signing on loan from Manchester United last week. If the new recruit is selected, then it could mean that Pablo Fornals drops to the bench.

Two players that won’t be involved in the squad are youngsters Oladapo Afolayan and Ajibola Alese, as both have secured Deadline Day moves and are heading for loan spells at Sky Bet League Two clubs, joining Bolton Wanderers and Cambridge United respectively.

The match kicks off at 8:15pm with live coverage being screened by BT Sport from 8pm. The referee is Andrew Madley.