Aston Villa 0-1 West Ham: Pablo Fornals gives the Hammers their first win of the season

West Ham’s first win of the season moves them from the bottom of the table

West Ham picked up their first win of the season when Pablo Fornals beat Aston Villa with a deflected second-half goal at Villa Park.

Villa were disallowed for a first-half goal after a Lucas Digne corner went wide before Ezri Konsa tapped the ball home.

West Ham improved in the second half and could have opened the scoring when Jarrod Bowen broke loose on the break, but the winger was thwarted by a well-timed Digne tackle.

But with 16 minutes left, Fornals’ shot caught Konsa and crossed over Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez and proved enough to kick-start the Hammers’ season.

The win lifts West Ham off the bottom of the table to 17th, level on points with Villa in 16th.

Villa’s sufferings continue

A third loss of the season will only add to the pressure on Villa boss Steven Gerrard, whose side have been booed at full-time.

Gerrard’s worries could also be exacerbated if he is without Philippe Coutinho’s services after the Brazilian was substituted with an injury.

While Villa were on the more dangerous side in a memorable first half, the hosts struggled to worry West Ham’s defense after the restart and were desperately lacking in ideas in attack.

The hosts thought they had taken the lead in the 16th minute when Philippe Coutinho headed a corner from Digne onto the post before Konsa saved the rebound.

However, Villa’s celebrations were cut short by the linesman, who correctly noted that Digne’s set piece was out of play before it reached Coutinho.

Other than that, they have accomplished very little and are now having to regroup ahead of a daunting week that sees them travel to Arsenal on Wednesday before hosting Manchester City on Saturday.

Villa playmaker Coutinho had to be substituted off injured in the second half

hammers and runs

After a poor first-half performance, West Ham improved after the restart when Bowen broke loose on the break, only for the England winger to be stopped by Digne’s final tackle.

Bowen’s chance seemed to give the visitors a boost, however, as Gianluca Scamacca – who handed his first league start from Moyes – fired straight at Martinez after being picked out by Tomas Soucek on the edge of the box.

The goal was extremely accidental, with Fornals’ shot looping from long range by Konsa and over Martinez, but with Villa struggling to find an answer in the closing stages, Moyes will feel his side deserved the win.

West Ham’s victory came just hours after the news that they were at the start about to finalize a £36.5million deal for Lucas Paqueta from Lyon.

The Brazilian’s impending arrival coupled with that crucial win should give the Hammers a timely boost as they prepare to welcome Tottenham to the London Stadium on Wednesday ahead of Sunday’s game against Chelsea.

Helpgame guide

Rate players up to 10 points during or after the game. The guesser closes 30 minutes after the final whistle.

depreciation area key1 = Give it up10 = Pure perfection

AstonVilla

1. squad number1player nameMartinez

2. squad number2player nameCash

3. squad number4player nameSo

4. squad number16player namechambers

5. squad number27player nameWorthy

6. squad number6player nameDouglas Luis

7. squad number44player namecamera

8. squad number23player namePhilippe Coutinho

9. squad number7player nameMcGinn

10. squad number11player nameWatkins

11. squad number9player nameengineer

1. squad number10player nameNice day

2. squad number31player nameBailey

3. squad number35player namearcher

4. squad number41player nameJ Ramsey

West Ham United

1. squad number1player nameFabianski

2. squad number24player namesweeper

3. squad number4player nameDry

4. squad number3player nameCreswell

5. squad number2player nameJohnson

6. squad number28player nameSoucek

7. squad number8thplayer nameformals

8. squad number41player namerice

9. squad number33player nameemerson

10. squad number20player namebowen

11. squad number7player nameFraud

1. squad number5player nameHe backed away

2. squad number9player nameAntonio

3. squad number22player namebenrahma

lineups

AstonVilla

formation 4-3-1-2

1Martinez

2Cash4So16chambers27Worthy

6Douglas Luis44camera23Coutinho

7McGinn

11Watkins9engineer

• 1Martinez
• 2CashBooked at 57 minutes
• 4So
• 16chambers
• 27Worthy
• 6Douglas LuisReplaced byJ Ramseyat 66′protocol
• 44cameraBooked at 79 minutes
• 23CoutinhoReplaced byNice dayat 66′protocol
• 7McGinnReplaced byarcherat 90+1′protocol
• 11Watkins
• 9engineerReplaced byBaileyat 78′protocol

substitute

• 10Nice day
• 17Augustinsson
• 18Young
• 19i am a turtle
• 25Olsen
• 31Bailey
• 35archer
• 41J Ramsey
• 47iroegbun

west ham

formation 3-5-2

1Fabianski

24sweeper4Dry3Creswell

2Johnson28Soucek8thformals41rice33emerson

20bowen7Fraud

• 1Fabianski
• 24sweeper
• 4Dry
• 3Creswell
• 2JohnsonReplaced byHe backed awayat 23′protocol
• 28Soucek
• 8thformals
• 41rice
• 33emersonReplaced bybenrahmaat 45′protocol
• 20bowen
• 7FraudReplaced byAntonioat 65′protocol

substitute

• 5He backed away
• 9Antonio
• 10What is it?
• 12downes
• 13areola
• 14cornet
• 21Ogbonna
• 22benrahma
• 32coventry

Referee: David Coote

Number of visitors: 41,796

live text

1. Game ends, Aston Villa 0, West Ham United 1.

2. End of the second half, Aston Villa 0, West Ham United 1.

3. Corner, Aston Villa. Goal conceded by Vladimír Coufal.

4. Substitution, Aston Villa. Cameron Archer replaces John McGinn.

5. attempt saved. Jacob Ramsey (Aston Villa) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Emiliano Buendia.

6. attempt failed. Leon Bailey (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the right side of the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Boubacar Kamara.

7. Foul by Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).

8. Thilo Kehrer (West Ham United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

9. Offside West Ham United. Declan Rice tries a through ball, but Michail Antonio is caught offside.

10. attempt failed. Declan Rice (West Ham United) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Said Benrahma.

11. attempt blocked. Aaron Creswell (West Ham United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

12. Boubacar Kamara (Aston Villa) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

13. Foul by Boubacar Kamara (Aston Villa).

14. Declan Rice (West Ham United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

15. Substitution, Aston Villa. Leon Bailey replaces Danny Ings.

16. attempt failed. Matty Cash (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the center of the box is too high. Assisted by Jacob Ramsey.

17. Goal! Aston Villa 0, West Ham United 1. Pablo Fornals (West Ham United) right footed shot from outside the box is high up the center of the goal. Assisted by Declan Rice.

18. Offside, Aston Villa. Calum Chambers tries a through ball, but Danny Ings is caught offside.

19. attempt failed. Saïd Benrahma (West Ham United) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Declan Rice.

20. Foul by Boubacar Kamara (Aston Villa).

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