Irons well beaten at Villa

Aston Villa 2 West Ham 0

This was always going to be the most difficult of West Ham's remaining fixtures away to a top four team, as at least the Arsenal game is at home. With Summerville unfit it's going to be tough and the Hammers are not helped by Todibo getting injured in the warm-up, meaning Potts starts and the five at the back plan is abandoned.

It's all Aston Villa, with Castellanos, Pablo and Bowen isolated up front. Dinos Mavropanos has a sensational half, making a goal-saving tackle, heading a corner away from under the bar, heading off the line again and making a crucial tackle that was initially awarded as a penalty. Hermamsen also makes a number of smart saves and we're lucky it's only one at the interval.

Villa's goal comes when they play a short free-kick rather than an inswinger. All West Ham's players are in the box and Sancho feeds McGinn, who curls home an excellent long-range curler. Nuno acts by bringing on Wilson and Traore at the break, as West Ham have not had a shot on target.

The game is over on 68 minutes when Bowen is dispossessed, Rogers outruns Soucek to send in a shot which Hermansen seems to catch but then drops, allowing Ollie Watkins to score a predator's goal. Diouf could also have reacted quicker.

So we now have two weeks to the FA Cup game against Leeds and three before the vital home game against Wolves. At least Spurs have lost 3-0 to Forest and are just one point ahead of WHU. We have to pray that Summerville is fit as without him there's a real lack of threat going forward. Apart from the Greek Bloke the side underperformed at Villa so we need to get back to the levels the side showed at Fulham. But let's remember Villa are a quality side with a quality manager. Games against Wolves and then Palace away present the Hammers with a chance to finally get ahead of tottering Spurs.

Emerson earns gritty point for depleted Hammers

Aston Villa 1 West Ham 1

There's a mood of pessimism on my WhatsApp Irons group as the depleted Hammers line up with four full backs and no strikers. Though at least we're not Spurs. Areola is restored in goal, while in the absence of the suspended Greek Bloke Kilman is flanked by Coufal and Cresswell and Wan-Bissaka and Emerson play as wing-backs. 

Villa's Unai Emery is banned and forced to watch from his technical coffin area, while the Villa dugout seems to have Rick Wakeman in charge, which will at least please prog-rocker Nigel.

It starts ominously on Sky as Villa play through the West Ham midfield and score after a one-two between Watkins and Ramsey, who outpaces Coufal rather too easily to slot home from a tight angle. It looks like being a roasting as only a great tackle from Kilman prevents a goal, Tielemans fires wide and Watkins just misses the target.

But slowly the Hammers get more of a foothold in the game as Paqueta starts to hold the ball up. Mings going off injured helps, as Digne looks unsure at centre back. West Ham force a couple of corners and Paqueta fires a volley wide before the interval. Lucas also appears to have been hit by the Grealish sniper when Digne elbows him in the chest, causing a big melee.

In the second half Potter gets his wing-backs to push up more as Villa tire after playing midweek in Monaco. West Ham start to play with some calmness and self-belief. The energetic Wan-Bissaka puts a lot of crosses in towards the back post. Soler has a shot cleared off the line by Konsa after Martinez spills a cross. Paqueta spins to shoot just wide.

A deserved equaliser arrives when Wan-Bissaka and Kudus find Alvarez, whose deep cross is headed home by Emerson. Emerson has proved too progressive for Wakeman. Edson and Emerson perform some dad dance moves in celebration.

What's impressive is that after a week's training Potter already seems to have installed a collective mindset. All three subs contribute. Ollie Scarles gets a chant of "He's one of our own!" with several good tackles and rampages down the left, Andy Irving is calm on the ball and almost sets up a late winner, while Danny Ings sends a decent strike just wide of the post. Soucek also has a good chance but puts his header over.

Alvarez is lucky to avoid a red card after a tug on Kamara and Potter sensibly subs him. Paqueta, who has had a great game, has the commentators drooling with a great piece of skill in the box and Lucas has the ball in the net at the end, though Soucek is correctly ruled offside.

It's a very creditable result for a team with no strikers and seven players absent. The new gaffer seems to have Paqueta performing again and backed by the experience of Cresswell and Coufal, Kilman has looked a lot more solid. This seems to be evidence that Potter knows what he's doing. Irons!

Concentrating on the league as injuries mount

Aston Villa 2 West Ham 1 (FA Cup)

Its over to Matt's gaff for this one where we're joined by another north London Iron in DC and offered beer, tea, crisps and fudge. The Hammers start off excellently under Potter's new reign. Wan-Bissaka and Summerville feed Paqueta who fires a great long distance shot just wide of the post. Nine minutes in and Fullkrug and Kudus set free Summerville on the right. His low cross is tucked away by Paqueta. Lucas does a guitar strumming celebration for some reason.

Villa look disjointed and West Ham seem to be holding on quite comfortably. Interestingly Potter is playing Summerville as a kind of right wing-back and has given Ollie Scarles a game at left back in the absence of Emerson. Scarles gets in some fine tackles and combines well with Paqueta. But then Fullkrug goes down with a tweaked hamstring as DC tells us that Fullkrug had missed more than 100 games with injury in his career before we signed him. It gets worse as Summerville also has to go off injured at the interval.

Villa step it up in the second half and are helped by subs Onana, Buendia and Ramsey. Fabianski has to make a fine low save from Maatsen. But the equaliser cones from a corner that should never have been given after Villa shoot wide without touching any West Ham players. From the corner the ball ricochets around the box and although Fabianski saves one effort but the ball rebounds off Soucek and Onana taps home.

Four minutes later Villa score again. Wan-Bissaka is too far upfield and Mavropanos can't close down Watkins as the Villa man crosse for Rogers to get across Kilman and fire home.

Rogers hits the angle but West Ham do show some spirit to threaten at the end. Cresswell has a shot blocked and sub Danny Ings has one scuffed shot blocked and then shoots wide when he fails to wrap his foot around the ball in a good position.

Still the evening hasn't been entirely wasted, Matt has been reading Inside The Academy: The Hopes Highs and Heartbreaks of West Ham's Youth and his discovered that the son of Culture Club's Mikey Craig once played for the Academy. DC then produces a picture of himself with Mikey Craig and Boy George at an exhibition of Boy George's paintings in Manchester in a pop trivia overload.

So it's concentrating on the league as another cup final breakfast at Nigel's gaff in Kew Gardens is postponed. And at the latest count we now have injuries to Bowen, Antonio, Fullkrug, Summerville, Areola, Emerson, Todibo and Mavropanos. Still, there was some evidence of a new manager bounce and the side seemed to put in more of a shift and show more tactical discipline than under Loppy. Though it's now going to be a struggle to field a decent side against Fulham on Tuesday.

Hammers Halloween horror for Villa as Irons score four

Aston Villa 1 West Ham 4

A good turnout at Mabel's Tavern for this one, with Lisa and Matt, Michael the Brigadier's Biographer and a tardy Nigel all present. Barely has my Neck Oil been supped before West are ahead. Declan Rice pings a good ball out to Ben Johnson and rather than cross he cuts inside to fire a long-range left foot shot past Martinez. The spirit among the squad is shown by the group celebration, a parody of Ben's dodgy schooldays dancing moves which recently went viral on twitter.

Bowen has a goalbound effort headed away by Konsa, but slowly Villa come back into it. They equalise when Buendia gets the wrong side of Fornals and crosses for the unmarked Watkins to shoot past Fabianski, who gets a foot to it but fails to block. Three mistakes in one goal that will surely anger Moyes.

The camera now turns to Dean Smith in the Villa dugout who seems to be getting advice from a Rick Wakeman lookalike, which pleases prog rocker Nigel. West Ham still look the mote likely side going forward and score at a good time before the break. The overlapping Cresswell distracts the defence as Benrahma cuts inside to pass to Rice on the edge of the box who fires a low shot into the corner for his third of the season.

It all kicks of in the second half after 50 minutes. Fornals is felled by an arm in the face from Hause, the ball finds Antonio who flicks on to Bowen, who is then brought down on the edge of the box by last man Konsa. Without any sound in the pub we assume that it's the forearm smash that has resulted in a red but it's actually Konsa who has gone for the professional foul. It should undoubtedly have been a double sending off — it seems incredible that Hause's assault wasn't deemed a red by VAR.

With ten men Villa start to play better and Watkins hits the bar with a header. West Ham are getting sloppy with their passing and don't seem able to calm the game down, much to the chagrin of Mystic Matt, who then doubts the wisdom of bringing on Lanzini, as Nigel suggests to Lisa that a wellness sojourn in San Francisco might be required.

There's another fracas as Fornals and Nakamba slide in for a 50-50 ball, made to look worse by Nakamba taking six rolls across the turf. The team spirit is again shown by Lanzini and Bowen getting involved in a pushing match with the Villa players to defend their team-mate as Pablo gets a yellow.

But this West Ham team find a way to win. On 80 minutes Antonio is again clattered but manages to flick the ball on to Bowen. Jarrod races clear to shoot, Martinez saves but Pablo Fornals is on hand to score from the rebound and reprise Fabian Balbuena's General salute.

It gets better. Two minutes later Antonio drifts past Hause and keeps calm to find Lanzini in the box. Manuel unselfishly passes across the box to Bowen who taps home for a great team goal. What an October its been for the Irons.

In a desperate bid to make the blog, Nigel leaves during added time to race to a gig by Michael Schenker the ex-Scorpions guitarist. There was an iffy patch in the second half, but another great win and we remain fourth. The next league game is against Liverpool so we can't get too carried away, but it's starting to feel like a special season. The only thing that could make it better would be if Tottenham sacked their manager in the morning... Irons!

Perfect start for Lingard as Hammers smash Villa

Aston Villa 1 West Ham 3

Another night on BT Sport. From the kick off it's apparent that the lively Lingard is looking really pleased to be playing football again and already seems to have a good understanding with Benrahma and Antonio — even if it is tough on Fornals to be dropped.  

The Hammers have the better of the first half, creating a few chances with Antonio scuffing a volley and Lingard testing Martinez from distance. Watkins does hit the outside of the post with a curling shot after a mistake by Dawson, but Soucek also goes close before the interval.

Moyes has got it right tactically, unlike against Liverpool. Playing Fredericks as a wingback helps nullify the threat of Grealish and Coufal relishes winding up the Villa talisman with some crunching tackles.

Antonio shoots wide after a quickfire break early in the second half. But the Hammers take the lead as Antonio holds up the ball for Benrahma, whose great first time pass releases Soucek to rifle it into the far corner.

The Hammers are two up after another swift counterattack. Watkins is dispossessed by Rice, Benrahma breaks at speed to find Antonio, whose pass is chested down by Lingard. He shoots past Martinez and is mobbed his teammates round the corner flag. 

It's almost three when a fine dribble and cross from Fredericks sees Antonio's shot deflected over. Then a great Cresswell pass releases Antonio only for his lob to be cleared off the line by Mings.

It gets a little worrying with eight minutes left as Grealish finds Watkins to score as he gets between Ogbonna and Dawson. A couple of minutes later Dawson has to make a fine block to deny Watkins again.

The game is finally put to bed when Soucek wins a tackle to release Antonio who finds Lingard in space on the right. Lingard's shot goes straight through the hapless Martinez and Jesse even gets to do his silly dance in celebration. For a bloke who's not played since September it's been a fantastic performance.

It's a shame Benrahma can't round off a great Hammers move in added time, but this has been another impressive away win at a good side. Coufal, Fredericks, Soucek, Benrahma, Lingard and Antonio, who helped create three goals, have all been standout performers. This is WHU's best points total since the Boys of '86. Where is it going to take us? COYI!

At least we kept a clean sheet…

Aston Villa 0 West Ham 0

Well, not quite the 11 goals WHU needed to go second but at least it was a solid defensive performance in a disappointing game. Watched the first half in the World's End. The Irons had more of the play in the first half though Villa had the best chances with Wesley heading a great chance over and McGinn drawing a fine low save from Fabianski. For the Hammers there was a Haller header just wide and an Anderson header blocked by a defender after a fine Masuaku cross. 

The best moment is when Mings and El Ghazi clash after conceding a West Ham corner. Heads come together but Mike Dean, for once, eschews a controversial double sending off.

For the second half I had to move to the Faltering Fullback to play for my pub quiz team the Beta Males. So had half an eye on the screen while trying to remember which planet had moons called Phobos and Deimos (Mars), why played Rey in the recent Star Wars movies (Daisy Ridley) and who was the lead singer of Skunk Anansie (Skin). 

Mike Dean distinguished himself again by giving Arthur Masuaku a second yellow for a rather innocuous foul on the halfway line. Haller looked increasingly isolated up front and Yarmolenko, after a fine game against Norwich, disappointed. 

But we did well to hold out with ten men. Diop had a fine game at the back as did Fabianski whose commitment was characterised by his charge from goal to take the ball and El Ghazi out in the first half. 

Grealish just failed to connect with a cross late on and the Irons also had a late but not entirely convincing penalty shout from Fredericks. Not a great game, but to be positive that's four league games unbeaten since the City defeat and Villa defeated Everton in their last home game. And perhaps with 11 men we might have nicked it. 

While as my pal Nigel quipped, David Cameron will certainly be pleased with a draw between his two teams, West Ham and Aston Villa.

Another away defeat at Aston Villa

Aston Villa 1 West Ham 0

So it's a predictable defeat in the David Cameron derby. Sounds like West Ham were on the back foot for the first half. Adrian produces a good save from Cleverley's fierce volley, but is beaten after half an hour following Grealish's good break down the left and Cleverley's tap in. Poor marking in the box, though a generally solid performance from Collins and Burke in keeping Benteke quiet. Valencia should be awarded a penalty, but for Nolan standing all over the keeper, which the referee spots first.

West Ham look better in the second half with Nene and Song on for the ponderous Nolan and Morgan Amalfitano. Nene fires just over and should surely be given a starting slot as at least he looks like he knows where the goal is. Song has had a back problem for weeks, but if fit he should start against Everton too.

From a West Ham corner Collins has a header tipped over the bar by Given. While Valencia has a headed goal disallowed for offside, which is probably just about correct, though the left back almost plays him onside. Agbonlahor gets clear late on but slices wide for Villa after good defending from Cresswell. So it's no wins in 11 away games for West Ham, which isn't good enough. Those injuries to Carroll and Sakho seem to have deprived us of all firepower. Roll on the end of the season.