Turned over at Villa

Aston Villa 4 West Ham 1

Not a very enjoyable experience watching this on Sky. Villa have the better of the first half with Watkins and Diaby dropping deep to cause problems in front of West Ham's defence. Bowen tests Martinez with a speculative shot and Coufal plays in some inviting crosses, but the pressure soon mounts. Areola produces a great save to tip away Douglas Luiz's shot and Watkins swivels to shoot wide when he should score. 

The opening goal comes when Paqueta fails to track Douglas Luiz, whose effort is slightly deflected but should probably have been stopped by Areola who gets a hand to the ball. Paqueta gets his bearings wrong with an overhead kick as the Hammers revive a little before the break,

It looks all over early in the second half when Paqueta tries to be too clever on the left when he should simply clear it. His back pass puts Alvarez in trouble and the Mexican fouls Konsa for a penalty, converted by Douglas Luiz.

The Hammers show some character to come back. Alvarez finds Bowen whose shot from the edge of the box takes a deflection to fool Martinez. After that the Irons look the more likely side, winning a series of corners. Antonio, who has been disappointing, starts to raise his game and tests Martinez as well as getting in a dangerous cross. From a Ward-Prowse corner Aguerd's volley is blocked by Cash.

Kudus comes on for Soucek, but when the West Ham sub mis-controls, McGinn pounces to send a long ball up to Watkins. Coufal is caught upfield and Zouma does the right thing by sending Watkins wide on to his left foot. Only Watkins then fires a rocket into the top of the net to score from an acute angle. Villa score a fourth as subs Tielemans and Bailey combine. Bailey's stepover sends Aguerd towards Spaghetti Junction and the Villa man curls it home.

Not good enough from the Hammers, though defeats will happen on the road and the first two goals could certainly have been prevented. Villa have now won 11 in a row at home. Paqueta will be better in other games, today perhaps the strain of the betting furore caught up with him. While Soucek or Antonio should surely be rested for Kudus. The next five league games are against winnable opposition in Everton, Brentford, Forest, Burnley and Crystal Palace. That should give us more of an idea of how our season will go.