Last Updated on January 28, 2025
West Ham came back from behind to earn a point against Aston Villa with a fine-grained Premier League battle. Villa opened the scoring early after Jacob Ramsey linked-up well with Ollie Watkins before painting the ball into the bottom corner.
Having opened the scoring, the hosts should have been off to the races but missed opportunities allowed West Ham to stay in the contest. Morgan Rogers believed he had made it two for Villa, only for his effort to be disallowed for offside. Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins, who both came close, but narrowly missed the target.
Villa had a scare when Tyrone Mings fell to the ground clutching his knee after a clash with West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus. Especially on the Mings front, who had only just returned from an ACL injury.
He did, however, ease some fears as he appeared on the bench in the second half. Watkins later took to Instagram to say that it was “not too serious”. Although Villa had the bulk of the first-half possession and chances, they were unable to build on their lead, leaving West Ham a lifeline.
Emerson, however, made no mistake in the 70th minute when he headed home at the far post from an excellent cross by Edson Alvarez as the Hammers capitalized. Villa kept pushing, though, and was thankful to Ezri Konsa after Carlos Soler almost scored from close range, but West Ham’s defense held firm. The outcome leaves Villa still eighth in the table and maintaining their remarkable 11-match home unbeaten streak, while West Ham moves up to 13th in the league table.
Aston Villa is set to head to Wolves on February 1, travel to Ipswich Town on February 15, and welcome Chelsea on February 22. West Ham’s next three fixtures are against Chelsea on Feb 3, Brentford on Feb 15, and Arsenal on Feb 22.