West Ham United vs Aston Villa – Prediction, team news, line-ups

Having lost their last three matches, West Ham United play host to Aston Villa at the London Stadium on Sunday.

Villa head into the game looking to pick up four Premier League wins in a row for the first time this season, having successfully overcome some of the challenges faced by Villa’s new manager.

Match Preview

West Ham fell to a 1-0 defeat against Sevilla in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie on Thursday.

Munir El Haddadi’s strike on the hour mark was enough to put David Moyes’ men to the sword at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Before that, the Hammers were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Liverpool on March 5 and currently sit sixth in the league table.

Going up against an opposing side they have beaten in each of the last three meetings, the hosts will feel confident of coming away with the desired result this weekend.

They are unbeaten in five of six home games since the turn of the year, with a frenetic 3-2 loss against Leeds United the only aberration in that time.

Villa eased past the aforementioned Leeds in a routine 3-0 victory at Elland Road on Thursday evening.

Goals from Philippe Coutinho, Matty Cash and Calum Chambers left Steven Gerrard beaming at the final whistle in Yorkshire.

Picking up maximum points from their last three outings, the Villans have moved up into ninth place, leapfrogging Southampton in the process.

Those wins have also come via a combined score of 9-0, highlighting a new efficiency at both ends of the pitch.

West Ham United Premier League form: LWDDWL

West Ham United form (all competitions): DDWLLL

Aston Villa Premier League form: DLLWWW

Team News

Jarrod Bowen has directly been involved in more league goals than any of his teammates, and the Englishman’s absence is a massive blow for West Ham as he continues to nurse an Achilles injury.

The Londoners will also be without the services of Vladmir Coufal, who is set to miss a sixth straight game due to a groin injury.

Angelo Ogbonna and Andriy Yarmolenko round off the list of absentees for West Ham, with the latter unavailable due to personal reasons.

Midfielder Marvelous Nakamba is yet to recuperate from a knee injury picked up in December, ruling him out of Sunday’s contest.

Coutinho continues to excel since joining on loan from Barcelona with his opener against Leeds his fourth goal in eight games while also supplying three assists in that time.

Lucas Digne returned to the starting XI last time out and should shrug off competition from Ashley Young to retain his place at left-back.

West Ham United possible starting line-up:

Fabianski; Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Benrahma, Lanzini, Fornals; Antonio.

Aston Villa possible starting line-up:

Martinez; Cash, Chambers, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey; Coutinho; Ings, Watkins.

Score Prediction

Both teams head into the game on a different run of results, but a close encounter is expected nonetheless. We fancy a draw at the end of the 90 minutes.         

West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa.