Aston Villa look to get back to winning ways on their return to Premier League action at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon, with a 4.30pm visit of West Ham United.
Unai Emery's side entertain the Irons just two weeks after knocking them out of the Emirates FA Cup, with a 2-1 third-round win at Villa Park in Graham Potter's first game since being appointed manager.
The Villans will be hoping to bounce back from a midweek setback at Monaco in the Champions League, while making it five Premier League outings unbeaten, having opened 2025 with wins over Leicester City and Everton and a draw at Arsenal last weekend.
The Hammers have won one of their three games since Potter's appointment, a thrilling 3-2 triumph at home to Fulham almost two weeks ago, however enter this clash on the back of defeat at home to Crystal Palace last weekend.
Potter will be hoping to turn the tide at the East London outfit, with his side currently sat 14th in the league table, while failing to beat Villa in the previous five meetings between the two sides.
Stats
Ollie Watkins has been involved in 99 Premier League goals in 168 appearances for Aston Villa (69 goals, 30 assists). If he scores or assists in this game he’ll be the fastest player to 100 goal involvements since Kevin De Bruyne in July 2020 (155th game) and fastest Englishman since Harry Kane in November 2017 (128th game).
Lukasz Fabianski’s next Premier League appearance for West Ham will be his 313th in the competition since he turned 30, taking him level with Edwin van der Sar for games aged 30+. Only Brad Friedel (425), Mark Schwarzer (375) and David James (329) have more games after their 30th birthday.
Since the start of last season, West Ham have played seven games without Jarrod Bowen and have lost five of those (W2). In the 53 games he has featured, the Hammers average 13.1 shots per game and 4.3 shots on target per game, compared to just 8.7 shots and 2.4 shots on target without him.
This will be Graham Potter’s first Premier League away match in charge of West Ham United, with three Hammers bosses winning their first game on the road – Trevor Booking in 2003, Slaven Bilic in 2015 and Julen Lopetegui this season. The last team to have two managers win their first away game within the same season was Chelsea in 2008/09 (Luiz Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink).
No side has scored more headed Premier League goals this season than Aston Villa (8), with Youri Tielemans involved in 50% of those (1 goal, 3 assists), scoring at Arsenal last time out.
West Ham’s last away game was a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round earlier this month, with the Hammers losing 10 of their last 16 on the road (W3 D3). The last Premier League side to lose consecutive away games against the same team was Everton against Bournemouth in November 2022.
Only Arsenal (14) are on a longer home unbeaten run in the Premier League than Aston Villa (10 – W6 D4). Villa have only had three previous runs of 11+ unbeaten games at Villa Park, most recently between March and December 2023 when they won 16 out of 17 games (D1).
Following their 2-1 win at the London Stadium on the opening weekend, Aston Villa are looking to complete their first league double over West Ham since 2010/11, when the Hammers finished bottom of the table.
West Ham’s 4-1 defeat in this exact fixture last season ended a five game unbeaten run away against Aston Villa in the Premier League (W3 D2). They last lost consecutive visits to Villa Park in February 2013.
Aston Villa have won two of their last three Premier League games against West Ham (D1), as many as they had in their previous 16 (D6 L8).
The Last Meeting
The last meeting between these two sides came just over two weeks ago - an FA Cup third-round clash at Villa Park in which Unai Emery's side prevailed 2-1.
On a special night where all corners of the club came together to celebrate Aston Villa's 150th anniversary, it was West Ham - in Graham Potter's first game in charge - who struck first just nine minutes in, through Lucas Paquetá.
But Emery's men rallied after the break under the lights in B6, wearing their special, black, commemorative strip. Amadou Onana levelled matters from close range on 71 minutes, before Morgan Rogers struck five minutes later to seal Villa's passage into round four.
Team News
Unai Emery revealed captain John McGinn has resumed training with his teammates ahead of the clash, having missed the last four through injury, though Pau Torres, Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley remain out.
Andrés García and Donyell Malen could be handed Aston Villa debuts, the latter having remained an unused substitute in last weekend's trip to Arsenal, and been ineligible for the Champions League meeting with Monaco.
Konstantinos Mavropanos will be missing for the Hammers, serving a suspension having been sent off against Palace last weekend, while Jean-Clair Todibo remains out with a calf problem.
Graham Potter will make a late call on Crysencio Summerville, who sustained a hamstring injury in the FA Cup meeting two weeks ago, though Niclas Füllkrug is still out, alongside long-term absentees Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“Very important, those three points on Sunday against West Ham. Very difficult, because all matches in the Premier League are very difficult. Of course, West Ham, they are not being consistent, but they have now a new coach. Tactically, they are going to improve, playing matches, and they have very good players as well.”
Unai Emery
“It's always a tough game at Aston Villa. It's always a challenging environment, and with Unai Emery doing such a good job there, and competing in the UEFA Champions League, it's always a test. We did OK in the first half in the FA Cup, and we've had a good week, so we have to go there and try to compete.”
Graham Potter
