Aston Villa suffered a fourth consecutive defeat on Sunday after West Ham Utd secured a 4-1 win at Villa Park.
The Hammers took an early lead before Ollie Watkins struck back to level the scores, but Villa were behind again shortly after and saw the task become increasingly difficult with Ezri Konsa getting sent off just after the restart.
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While Watkins went close with a headed effort that hit the crossbar, the visitors went on to score two late goals to add icing onto the cake for David Moyes, while Dean Smith will come under increasing pressure ahead of travelling to Southampton on Friday.
Villa player ratings vs West Ham:
Emiliano Martinez, 5.5 – Will be disappointed with the first two goals as although he appeared to see them late, given the quality he possesses, would have backed himself to be better. Let down by those in front of him.
Matty Cash, 6.5 – One of the few to come away with a positive assessment. Played with grit and intent, and put up some fight which was lacking elsewhere.
Ezri Konsa, 4.5 – Had been putting in a decent shift but was sent off just after the restart and effectively that was a major blow to our hopes of battling back.
Kortney Hause, 5 – Similarly to Konsa, did well defensively in the early stages as they came under a lot of pressure with the midfield offering little protection. However, began to struggle as the game went on.
Matt Targett, 4 – A really poor effort, and not his first this season. Looked soft in the challenge and sloppy in possession. That area is a real weakness for Villa this season.
John McGinn, 5 – Didn’t do enough to win the midfield battle. Lacked aggression and pulled out of position too often, while he didn’t offer enough quality on the ball either in our build-up play as that was left to the centre-halves far too often which ended with us giving away possession.
Marvelous Nakamba, 5.5 – Similar to McGinn for a large part of the game, but battled well and showed fight after we went down to 10 men. Needs to be more imposing in midfield though.
Jacob Ramsey, N/A – A bitter blow for Villa as Ramsey was forced off with a freak injury early on after twisting his ankle. Given his impact at Arsenal, was disappointing to see him denied the chance to build on that.
Emiliano Buendia, 5 – Showed his quality with a great run and assist for Watkins. However, didn’t show anywhere near enough aside from that in a quiet game before being hooked after Villa were reduced to 10 men. That was perhaps a questionable decision though given we lost his potential creativity in the final third.
Ollie Watkins, 6 – Took his goal well and worked tirelessly throughout the game. His pressing and movement through the middle showed that this system suits him much better.
Leon Bailey, 4.5 – A quiet evening from the Villa winger as he couldn’t really get going to showcase his pace and technical quality. Contributed to our lack of cutting edge and creativity in West Ham’s half.
Substitutions:
Ashley Young, 4.5 – An industrious effort off the bench but lacked quality as he didn’t do much with the ball and struggled to contain West Ham’s attacking play from midfield.
Tyrone Mings, 4.5 – Came on in difficult circumstances after being dropped, and that showed as he couldn’t help keep a tight ship in the latter stages.
Anwar El Ghazi, 4 – Did very little after coming on as he didn’t really offer us much quality in the final third.
