Aston Villa saw our good run of form come to an end after a 2-1 defeat to West Ham Utd at the London Stadium on Sunday.
After a closely-fought and relatively even first half, it was all to play for after the break as Villa defended well for the most part and looked a threat at times.
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However, goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Pablo Fornals in the space of 12 minutes towards the latter stages of the game sealed the win for the Hammers, while Jacob Ramsey produced a superb finish to reduce their lead late on.
Villa were able to establish themselves in the game in the opening 45 minutes, as although West Ham created dangerous moments, we were tireless out of possession to limit the level of threat and pressure that they could exert on us.
Unfortunately, we lost that foothold in the second half as we started to come under attack after attack for a period, and that’s where the hosts were clinical. From a Villa perspective, and as touched on by Steven Gerrard after the game, they were two poor goals to concede and it ultimately cost us.
Prior to that, Emiliano Martinez produced a fine save to deny Kurt Zouma as Craig Dawson then headed over from two yards out, while Danny Ings was denied by a top save from Lukasz Fabianski as he pushed his effort onto the post before collecting.
Ramsey though added one positive to the afternoon as following good work from substitute Emiliano Buendia in the box to spin and find space, he laid the ball off into the path of his teammate who ghosted into the box unmarked and produced a composed and controlled finish into the back of the net.
However, it was too little too late for us as we couldn’t find an equaliser, and while our good run of results ends, it’s important we now reset and get back on track immediately as we prepare to face Arsenal at Villa Park on Saturday.
