John McGinn felt Aston Villa were unfortunate not to win – let alone draw – against West Ham on Monday night.
The Villans fell to a 2-1 defeat at London Stadium despite dominating possession and creating far more clear-cut chances than the Hammers.
Goals in the opening minutes of each half proved to be their undoing, and McGinn was left to rue the team’s slow starts.
“The least we deserved is three points with the performance we put in,” he said.
“We had West Ham on the back foot for long spells of the game, but we were punished for a couple of lapses in concentration.
“When you come away from home, it’s hard to react to those setbacks and I thought we did that ever so well.
“We played so well, especially in the second half. We created so many chances, but it wasn’t our night.”
The loss was Villa’s fourth in their last five Premier League matches, moving them down to 10th in the table.
But McGinn says the team will soon be moving in the right direction if they produce the same level of performance on a regular basis, starting against Newcastle United on Friday.
He said: “We proved here that we’re going to be a good team this season.
“Obviously it’s disappointing to lose another game, but we’ve got Friday now to make it right.
“Our home form’s not been great, and we want to put that right. If we perform like we did here, then we will.”
