Aston Villa Match Preview

West Ham United only picked up three away wins last season but this afternoon, they will already be looking for a third of the new campaign when they head to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa.

One of those victories was here back in August when they not only lifted themselves off the bottom of the Premier League table but also scored their first goal of the season.

The Hammers are in a much healthier position travelling to the Midlands today however, as they have fourteen points from their first eight games and will be hoping that they can add another three here to preserve David Moyes’ excellent record whilst in charge of the East London club.

Both teams will be going for a win to give them confidence, as they both have European encounters in just five days time.

Mohammed Kudus could be in line for his first top-flight start after his late goal at home to Newcastle United a fortnight ago earnt his team a point when they looked destined to have suffered an unlucky defeat.

It is as yet unknown whether goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański has recovered from the injury he suffered in the warm-up against the Magpies in time to regain his place in the matchday squad, while Tomáš Souček has scored in the last two games and will be hoping to retain his place in the starting line-up.

Moyes did hint in his pre-match news conference ahead of the game on Friday that Aaron Cresswell and Ben Johnson are close to a return from injury so it will be interesting to see if either of them feature here, while Danny Ings will be hoping to play some part on his first return to Villa Park.

The match is a 4:30pm kick-off and live coverage is being screened by Sky Sports from 3:30pm. The referee is David Coote.