Aston Villa look to continue their fine form at Villa Park when they welcome a West Ham side that have an excellent record against the Villans on Sunday.
Aston Villa - 17/20
Draw – 13/5
West Ham - 3/1
Aston Villa to win @ 17/20
Aston Villa could only manage a draw at Wolves before the international break but their excellent home record should carry them through against a West Ham side that have been fortunate at times this season.
Only rock-bottom Sheffield United (310) have conceded more touches inside the penalty area than David Moyes’ Hammers (306), and no team has allowed more opposition touches in the final third than the visitors.
These statistics have not hampered their ability to get results so far this term, but it could catch up to them against a side with the fifth-most shots on target (45) in the top flight this season.
19 of these shots on target have come in their three home games, and they tested Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele nine times in their last outing at Villa Park, with that 6-1 thrashing continuing an impressive run of form in front of their home fans.
Unai Emery’s side have won each of their last 10 Premier League home games, scoring 27 goals and conceding just four in an eight-month winning period that includes two victories over Brighton and wins against Newcastle and Tottenham.
West Ham have endured a tough run of fixtures of late but successive 3-1 defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool illustrate their vulnerability at the back and 14 of their 22 Premier League losses since the start of last season have come away from home.
The Irons can take some heart from an excellent recent record against the Midlands side but, given Aston Villa’s home form this season, expect their ten-match unbeaten streak against the hosts to come to an end on Sunday.
Ollie Watkins to score Anytime @ 7/5
Ollie Watkins, like the rest of the Aston Villa squad, endured a torrid time at the start of the 2022/23 Premier League season but he exploded into form once Unai Emery touched down in Birmingham.
The 27-year-old scored just once in 11 games last season under Steven Gerrard but found the net a further 14 times in 25 appearances after the Liverpool legend's departure, a resurgence that earned him a recall to the England squad this month after 18 months in the cold.
Unsurprisingly, Watkins repaid the favour by scoring the winning goal against Australia and has now scored eight goals in his 10 starts for club and country this season.
Watkins notched a stunning hat-trick in Aston Villa’s demolition of Brighton in his last home start for Villa and also scored in their 1-1 draw with West Ham back in March.
That was the ex-Brentford striker's third goal in his last five appearances against West Ham and, with form and confidence on his side, he could make the difference at Villa Park on Sunday.
Aston Villa remain without long-term absentees Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia, while Jacob Ramsey and Alex Moreno have both been ruled out of Sunday’s clash.
There are no confirmed absentees for West Ham, although Ben Johnson, Aaron Cresswell and Lukasz Fabianski are all carrying knocks and could miss out.
Aston Villa have won each of their last 10 Premier League home games in a run stretching back to March.
There has been at least three goals in eight of West Ham’s 11 competitive matches this season.
Watkins has scored in three of his last five appearances against West Ham.
Aston Villa wins | 33 |
Draws | 33 |
West Ham wins | 39 |
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
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