Aston Villa vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Villa ParkAttendance41,734.
Report and highlights as two goals from Douglas Luiz and one each from Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey secured a 4-1 win for Aston Villa over West Ham at Villa Park; this 11th consecutive Premier League home win moves Unai Emery’s team up to fifth
Monday 23 October 2023 06:23, UK
Douglas Luiz scored twice as Aston Villa moved within two points of the Premier League's top spot with a 4-1 win over West Ham at Villa Park.
Douglas Luiz's low drive late in the first half proved too hot for Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola to handle, giving Unai Emery's side the lead that their enterprising performance deserved. He added a second from the penalty spot early in the second half.
David Moyes' men made it more awkward for Aston Villa after Jarrod Bowen's deflected strike found the corner of the net. But late goals from Ollie Watkins and substitute Leon Bailey helped to ensure an 11th consecutive Premier League home win for Villa.
"We want to be in the top five," Emery had told Sky Sports before kick-off, with such a finish likely to be enough to secure Champions League football next season. As it stands, that is exactly where they are in the table. And upwardly mobile under the Spaniard.
The afternoon began with a moment of silence for the innocent victims of the Israel-Hamas war and heartfelt applause in celebration of the life of Sir Bobby Charlton, who passed away at the age of 86 on Saturday. What followed was an entertaining contest.
Villa had the better of the possession from the outset, Luiz forcing a spectacular save from Areola early on and Watkins dragging his shot wide of the target when well placed soon after. But the home side had their reward for their superiority before the half was out.
Nicolo Zaniolo, starting while he assists with a betting investigation, did brilliantly to find Watkins inside the West Ham penalty box and the Villa striker found Luiz in space on the edge of the penalty box. Areola was unable to keep out the Brazilian's low strike.
That seemed to spark an otherwise passive West Ham and there were opportunities for Lucas Paqueta and Bowen before the interval with Villa's high line enough to offer encouragement. But hope appeared to be extinguished early in the second half.
Paqueta's slack pass allowed Ezri Konsa to nip in to intercept ahead of Edson Alvarez and the referee pointed to the spot. Luiz did the rest, beating Areola with his penalty. The midfield playmaker has now scored in his last six Premier League appearances at Villa Park.
The mood then switched in a moment. Bowen's strike from distance on the angle deflecting into the bottom corner of the net off Pau Torres. It put the tension back into the game and West Ham had their best spell as they pushed for a previously unlikely equaliser.
Amid a tense atmosphere, there were groans when Torres' loose pass appeared to be heading into the path of West Ham's Mohammed Kudus. But the substitute failed to control and John McGinn was able to send Watkins away down the left channel to score.
It was an emphatic finish by the England forward and an ultimately emphatic win for Aston Villa thanks to Bailey's late strike. They have the fourth-best record in the Premier League since Emery's arrival. No wonder they are dreaming of the Champions League.
"The atmosphere today was brilliant," Bailey told Sky Sports.
"Not even for us, for the fans. They can come to the stadium and enjoy getting a victory. We're getting the results and hope it continues.
"The team spirit with everyone is great, whether you start or you come in. Even players from the bench, we carry out the instructions. I did that with a great goal.
"The sky is the limit for us. Let's just move on to the next one, an important game on Thursday and focus on what's next in front of us."
"We are feeling very good at home with our fans," Emery told Sky Sports.
"You have to connect with the fans. You have to be focused and strong in our structure defensively and offensively but overall we have to create a big atmosphere here with the crowd and really feel they are playing with us.
"We are not contenders to be in the top four. We are not contenders to be in the top seven teams at the beginning but of course we have our dreams and one of our dreams is to be with the top seven teams and try to do something this year in Europe."
"The thing that has really surprised me since Unai Emery has come to Aston Villa is, looking back on his career as a coach, he was probably a little bit similar in the way his team set up to Rafa Benitez, who I knew well and his fitness coach or assistant coach was Rafa's, Pako Ayestaran.
"I thought they would be a really tough team to beat. But when you see the solidity but also getting goals at the other end, that's the biggest thing for any team. Sometimes you get a team who are really tight at the back but struggle to score goals, another team who score goals but leak them in at the back. But the real top teams do it at both ends. Normally you need the best players. To be doing it here at Aston Villa is outstanding.
"You go back to last season and think what Newcastle did to get into the Champions League. They were written off right throughout the season. 'They won't get there'. But they eventually did.
"And yeah it will be tough for Aston Villa… the only problem they've got in terms of getting into the Champions League that will be different to Newcastle last season is they've got European football. I think they'll go far in that competition because of the manager's record in Europe. So there will be a lot of Thursday-Sundays after Christmas and that might be the only problem they have."
"It looked as if we were the team in the ascendancy at 2-1 but they punished us really quickly," said Moyes. He referenced the "huge individual errors" that cost his team and was frustrated with the Villa goals. "I am not having my team lose four goals," he added.
"We gave away a stupid penalty kick which didn't help us. If we're only going to discuss that, there were other things in the game, but what I would say is I don't think [Nayef] Aguerd should go to ground for the tackle. But I don't think it's a penalty either. But there you go.
"Today was a big challenge to see what level we are at and we just fell below that. There were things today we did quite well, but the things we do week in and week out we did not do well. I don't think we were hard enough to play against at times."
Both Aston Villa and West Ham are in European action in midweek.
Aston Villa travel to AZ on Thursday in the Europa Conference League; kick-off 5.45pm. West Ham are also on the road on Thursday when they travel to Greece to face Olympiakos; kick-off also 5.45pm.
Meanwhile, when the teams return to domestic action, Villa host Luton on Sunday October 29; kick-off 2pm, and West Ham host Everton on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 1pm.
