West Ham head to the Midlands to take on Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round on Friday night, and we’ve got the latest team news and confirmed lineups, as well as a score prediction alongside our preview.
Aston Villa vs West Ham FA Cup Preview
Fresh off the back of sacking Julen Lopetegui and appointing Graham Potter, struggling West Ham travel to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round on Friday evening.
The Hammers have suffered back-to-back 5-0 and 4-1 defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City in the league, leading to the dismissal of Lopetegui and the subsequent appointment of ex-Chelsea and Brighton boss Potter.
At the time of writing, West Ham are in 14th place in the Premier League table, seven points clear of the relegation zone, while they are five points adrift of the top half. They return to league action against Fulham next Tuesday.
In terms of the FA Cup, the East Londoners are three-time winners of the competition, most recently lifting the iconic piece of silverware in 1979/80. Last season, they were eliminated in the third round, as they suffered a bitterly disappointing 1-0 defeat to Championship side Bristol City in a replay.
Friday night FA Cup action ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/q83lBraxrM
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 8, 2025
Villa, meanwhile, have won the FA Cup an impressive seven times between 1886 and 1957. Like the Hammers, they were knocked out fairly early on last season, losing 3-1 to Chelsea in a fourth round replay.
The Villans come into this one fresh off the back of a 2-1 win over relegation battlers Leicester City, with Unai Emery’s side winning five of their last eight after going winless in eight between the end of October and the start of December.
Aston Villa are in eighth place in the English top-flight table heading into the weekend’s cup action, and they are firmly favoured by the UK’s best football betting sites to advance to the fourth round.
Aston Villa Team News
The hosts will have to make do without central defensive pairing Pau Torres (foot) and Diego Carlos (foot), as well as John McGinn (hamstring), Jaden Philogene (knock) and Jhon Duran (suspended).
In more positive news, Morgan Rogers makes his return to the squad after missing the weekend’s win over Leicester through suspension.
West Ham Team News
As for the Hammers, they remain without long-term absentee Michail Antonio, while Jarrod Bowen (foot) and Jean-Clair Todibo (unspecified) are also ruled out due to their respective injury concerns.
Lukasz Fabianski starts in between the sticks for West Ham despite doubts over a recent head injury and Oliver Scarles earns his first start of the season.
Aston Villa vs West Ham Confirmed Lineups
Aston Villa:
Olsen; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen; Tielemans, Kamara, Barkley; Bailey, Rogers, Watkins
West Ham:
Fabianski; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Scarles; Soucek, Alvarez; Kudus, Paqueta, Summerville; Fullkrug
Aston Villa vs West Ham FA Cup Third Round Prediction
As previously mentioned, Aston Villa are heavily favoured to prevail against the Hammers according to the top bookmakers in the UK, and we at SportsCasting agree with their assessment.
We are backing the Villans, who are unbeaten in seven across all competitions at Villa Park, to build on their positive results as of late and maintain their strong home record with a 2-0 triumph.
West Ham are likely to struggle without top-scorer Bowen, and with rotations likely amid a busy fixture period, we believe that Villa have the strength in depth required to overcome their faltering counterparts to advance to the fourth round.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-0 West Ham
