Benrahma salvages point against Villa

West Ham 1 Aston Villa 1 

It's a Sunday morning dash from Maidenhead (which Matt says has the longest-standing football ground in the country) where Her Indoors is doing a paddleboard race. Nicola ends up with a medal after doing 8km in one hour 21 minutes, which is more than most West Ham players possess.

At the London Stadium Matt is maintaining that his social media content does not contain any technical breaches of media guidelines and that he is equally critical of all referees. There is some concern that the social media output of Fraser might contain some anti-Moyes bias, though five years after Burnley at least he hasn't suggested a pitch invasion. 

Meanwhile Nigel has controversially admitted in the Best Cafe that he hates Liverpool more than Spurs. Michael, who is a possibly a Whovian, has been to see 1960s Doctor Who legends Peter Purves and Maureen O'Brien at the Riverside, but has not as yet received a Blue Peter badge from Peter Purves. 

Zouma starts and Kehrer replaces Ben Johnson. It's Ings against Mings as West Ham start well, with Bowen having the beating of Moreno. Rice's free kick is prodded wide by Aguerd. The Moroccan defender then finds Bowen with a lovely crossfield ball, Jarrod eludes Moreno and crosses for Benrahma to volley wide.

It all seems to be going well until the 17th minute. In Villa's first attack Kehrer stands off Moreno and the full-back whips in a teasing cross. Watkins gets ahead of Aguerd to head into the ground and over Areola. 

At least the Irons show good character to come back and equalise. Martinez claws away a corner to Paqueta, whose shot is headed off the line. In the melee Paqueta is pushed in the back by Bailey. He goes down easily but the contact was there. It's a silly penalty to give away and Benrahma blasts it home in the manner of Ray Stewart and Julian Dicks.

The Hammers regain momentum and Benrahma plays in a fine cross that Zouma should head on target. Before the break the Hammers are indebted to Areola for making a great reaction save to deny Watkins from close-in.

DESPERATELY SEEKING GOALS

The sides look pretty evenly matched, as the second half begins with something of a personal duel between Benrahma and Martinez. After a quality break Said curls an effort just wide and then sees another long-range effort tipped over by the World Cup-winning keeper. Nigel unleashes his lucky banana in an effort to conjure a goal.

Lucas Paqueta has attempted many clever balls, perhaps too clever, for as Lisa points out he's not playing in a side of Brazilians. He picks up a booking for a late challenge, then gets subbed for Fornals, storming off straight down the tunnel. Not a good sign. 

Bowen makes another great run down the right to cut back for Fornals, who makes a hash of his shot. Despite some media comments, the crowd do attempt to keep the side going. Benrahma has another goalbound effort foiled by a great block from the geriatric Ashley Young.  

The Vicar's Son is very annoyed when Ings is substituted by Cornet in the 86th minute, rather than Scamacca. Moyes later says that although Scamacca's hold-up play is good, “We know that his physical data has got to be much better than it is." If that means Gianluca needs to put himself about more then you wonder why WHU paid £35 million for him. Moyes also suggested that Scamacca is not a player to get behind defences. 

In Moyes' defence Cornet is fast and scored nine goals for Burnley last season. Though when Maxwel does get in a one-on-one, his silver hammer lets him down as he messes it up with an extra stepover before being ruled offside.

Villa have brought on Duran, who proves not to be hungry like the wolf when he shoots straight at Areola. There's a late scare when Rice dawdles in the area and then clashes with Buendia. There doesn't look enough in it to be a penalty and a big melee ensures as Rice takes issue with Buendia rolling on the ground.

There are a few boos at the final whistle, which are not quite deserved. It's a definite improvement on the Brighton game, Villa are not a bad side, Bowen has played really well and with a bit of luck Benrahma could have had a hat-trick, though as it is he has amassed a PL record ten shots in one game. We wonder if Moyes has really lost it, as he has forgotten to sub Beni.

So it's off to the Eagle for Spitfire from the fridge and the news that we are out of the drop zone on goal difference. We need to get some wins from somewhere, but though the result was disappointing, there were some reasons for optimism here. We've got points in our last four home games - and that's surely going to be the key to survival.

PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 7; Kehrer 5, Zouma 7, Aguerd 6, Emerson 6; Rice 6, Soucek 5, Paqueta 7 (Fornals 5), Benrahma 8; Bowen 8, Ings 5 (Cornet 5).