Villa Achieve First Stratford Success

West Ham United still only have four wins in 2024, as Julen Lopetegui didn’t get the “new manager bounce” he was hoping for as his side fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa in Saturday’s late kick-off. It was also the first time that the Villans had triumphed in Stratford.

Lopetegui included two of his new recruits in the starting line-up, as Max Kilman and Guido Rodríguez made their debuts, while fellow summer signings Crysencio Summerville, Jean-Clair Todibo, Niclas Füllkrug and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were named on the bench.

It proved to be a difficult start for the Hammers, as they couldn’t get enough control on the ball in the opening stages and went behind in the fourth minute when Amadou Onana headed past home goalkeeper Alphonse Areola from a corner.

The visitors continued to pile on the pressure and could have increased their the advantage but the French stopper kept his side in the game, making save after save.

Soon after, Unai Emery’s side really should have given the Irons a mountain to climb when Leon Bailey got we better of Areola but, instead of finding the back of the net, the ball came back off the near post.

John McGinn then wasted another golden chance for Villa,before the home side were given a lifeline when referee Tony Harrington awarded the hosts a penalty, as Tomáš Souček went down in the box, following a coming together with Matty Cash. VAR confirmed the original decision and Lucas Paquetá stepped up to take the kick and sent visiting goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez the wrong way to bring elation from the majority inside the stadium.

The goal seemed to spark the home side into life and they had chances to turn the game around before half-time however, none of them were taken and the scores were level when Harrington blew the whistle for the break.

Whatever Lopetegui said to his side during the interval certainly appeared to get them going, as Souček had his header blocked out for a corner, following a superb cross from Mohammed Kudus. Jarrod Bowen’s header from the resulting corner fell to Rodríguez, who tried his luck but he only succeeded in sending his effort over the top.

The East Londoners were fortunate to survive a major scare when Villa almost snatched the lead again but Youri Tielemans’ ball was blocked but fell to Morgan Rogers but thankfully, Konstantinos Mavropanos was alert and cleared the danger. Emery then made a double change by introducing both Jacob Ramsey and Jhon Durán in place of Oliver Watkins and McGinn. it was fair to say that the Colombian striker, who was on the verge of a move to Stratford this summer, nearly made the desired impact. He was straight Into the action and would have scored with one of his first touches. Fortunately though, his effort only found the side-netting.

Both Head-Coaches made a number of substitutions with just over fifteen minutes to play with Ward-Prowse, Summerville and Füllkrug replacing Paquetá, Bowen and Michail Antonio, coming on for West Ham, while the away side threw on another double change as they brought on both Ian Maatsen and Jaden Philogene to replace Lucas Digne and Bailey, while Lopetegui threw Todibo and Danny Ings into the fray for Vladimír Coufal and Rodríguez.

The home crowd were given considerable encouragement when seven minutes of stoppage time were signalled and luckily for them, one final chance came their way but Souček’s effort was cleared off the line and when the ball came back to him, the Czech midfielder headed over.

The Spaniard will hope to get his first win on the board when he takes his and to Selhurst Park for a London derby against Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.