As Aston Villa celebrated a year under Unai Emery in fine style, David Moyes’s West Ham suffered their first significant setback of the season in the shape of a troubling Sunday defeat in the Midlands.
Prior to this contest, only Liverpool and Manchester City had gotten the better of the Hammers this term and a trip to Villa Park right now feels almost as testing an assignment, a 4-1 victory for Emery’s side their 11th on the spin at home in the Premier League.
Billed as a meeting between two sides with the potential to upset the apple cart this term by pushing for what may well be a fifth Champions League spot, the hosts were for long periods the dominant force and rode out the brief threat of an Irons comeback midway through the second half to emerge commanding victors.
But even so, Moyes will return south having lost on this ground for the first time in more than a decade hugely frustrated with the manner in which his team contributed rather too heavily to their own downfall, Villa’s first three goals each coming with assistance from uncharacteristic mistakes.
Alphonse Areola has made his ascension to first-choice goalkeeper this term a non-debate with an excellent run of form, but really ought to have done better with Douglas Luiz’s opener, a nick off Nayef Aguerd making the save a tad more awkward, but the Frenchman’s hand too weak to keep it from squirming into the corner.
That effort had given Villa the lead at the end of a first-half in which, for all their possession, they had created only one other chance of note, dragged wide by Ollie Watkins. After the break, however, more Hammers sloppiness handed them a second on a plate.
Moyes had said earlier this month that Lucas Paqueta’s brilliance comes at the cost of moments that induce the wrenching of hair from scalp and this was certainly one of those, the playmaker’s dreadful pass in his own box selling Edson Alvarez short as he bundled through the back of Ezri Konsa to concede a spot-kick, put away for Luiz’s second.
Jarrod Bowen’s strike deflected in off Pau Torres to give West Ham a lifeline from nothing and suddenly Villa looked on the ropes, but hopes of a fightback were ended by a breakaway third.
Mohammed Kudus, who many West Ham fans are desperate to see involved from the start, had been sent on in the hope of forcing a leveller but instead followed Paqueta’s lead, a casual piece of play on halfway from a usually technically-assured player ceding possession before Watkins beat Kurt Zouma on the outside to lash a thunderous strike home at the near post.
Leon Bailey’s fourth put the cap on a terrific afternoon for the home side late on and Moyes can only hope his team take the visit of his former club Everton as chance to bounce straight back the other side of a Europa League trip to Olympiacos in midweek.
