West Ham v Aston Villa: Premier League – live | Premier League

26 min I suppose it was naive to think West Ham would hit the ground running given the change in their style of play. Villa look like a team who have been with the same, very very good coach for a couple of years.

23 min “Re: tactical fouls, I wondered this very point while I waited for the facial tics to subside after Ashley Young put my Everton down a man,” writes Eric Peterson. “Why cost yourself a suspension for a last-man foul when you’re already down two goals against a clearly better team? If a guy with his experience can’t resist the call of the void in that situation, then I can’t judge.”

22 min: Bailey hits the post! Villa should be 2-0 up. Cash drove a long pass over the top towards Bailey, who controlled the bouncing ball brilliantly and moved round Areola in the same movement. The angle was tight, with Kilman getting back, and he whipped his shot off the outside of the near post.

22 min “Talking of days gone by, my ear was caught when End of a Century by Blur came on the radio this morning, in particular the line about getting closer to 30,” writes Simon McMahon. “That was 30 years ago, and I’m now closer to 70 than I am to 30. How did that happen? Anyway, who’s winning the league this season? And don’t say Celtic.”

City. But which one?

21 min Rogers plays in the overlapping McGinn, whose chipped cross is headed away to the edge of the area. Rogers collects the loose ball and squares it to Bailey, whose first-time shot is blocked.

Villa have been much the better team in the first quarter.

19 min “Couldn’t help picking up on your ‘rug that tied the room together’ comment and took it as a green light for some Big Lebowski-themed fun,” writes Peader de Burca. “If Douglas Luiz is the floor adornment from the Coen brothers’ classic, then who on this Villa team is Walter’s dirty undies? Who is The Dude’s 1973 Gran Torino? Who, in the parlance of our times, is the ‘trophy wife’? And who is young Larry’s scrunched-up homework? At least they all roll on Shabbos.”

17 min Antonio’s snapshot from the edge of the area is blocked. West Ham need something to get the crowd going.

15 min Villa look a yard sharper than West Ham at the moment. A quick free-kick from Rogers – too quick for the camerman – puts Watkins through on goal on the right side of the area, but he dithers for a split-second and Areola dives at his feet. That looked an excellent chance.

13 min “In the Manchester City All or Nothing doc there is a sequence where Arteta (still at city at that point) is instructing their midfielders on exactly when to make tactical fouls in transitions, so I think they’re well ahead of you there!” says Will Vignoles.

Haha, tremendous. Do they train them on how to foul? One of Claude Makelele’s great strengths was his ability to make a foul look clumsy rather than cynical, and therefore not necessarily worthy of a yellow card. Norman Whiteside had the same ability, as evidenced here.

10 min: Good save by Areola! Rogers collects the ball in the centre circle and sets off. The West Ham defenders are distracted by various off-the-ball runs, which allows Rogers to make right through to the edge of the area before curling a low shot that is pushed away by Areola, diving to his right. Rogers didn’t get hold of it properly.

10 min Onana… one-nil!

9 min We’ll probably have specialist tactical foul coaches by 2030.

8 min Bailey is booked for a tactical foul on Kudus, who was leading a West Ham break. I wonder if managers train players on when they should and shouldn’t take a yellow card, or whether instinct just kicks in.

7 min Villa have made a relaxed, confident start. West Ham have yet to settle.

Amadou Onana has scored after 210 seconds of his Villa debut. Tielemans curled a left-wing corner into the six-yard box, where Onana got away from Antonio, leapt mightily and headed past Areola from four yards.

GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Aston Villa (Onana 4)

4 min “Seasons greetings, Rob,” says Digvijay Yadav. “Nostalgia is a fool’s errand and so on, but while the football now, at the top level, is amazing, I always find myself comparing this unfavourably with the late ‘90s and mid noughties. I used to watch everything then. Now I couldn’t tell you what is nice about the Villa bench that you’ve listed. Mostly, I miss the blood and thunder style.”

Mostly, I miss being 25 years younger.

2 min Kudus makes a very clumsy challenge on McGinn in the West Ham area. The referee doesn’t give it time of day but I wouldn’t mind seeing a replay. The ball bounced up and it looked like Kudus might have kicked through McGinn. That said, I don’t think there were many appeals from Villa.

1 min Peep peep! West Ham kick off form left to right as we watch.

Here come the players. These players, to be precise.

West Ham (possible 4-2-3-1) Areola, Coufal, Kilman, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Rodriguez; Bowen, Kudus, Lucas Paqueta; Antonio.
Substitutes: Fabianski, Cresswell, Summerville, Ward-Prowse, Fullkrug, Ings, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Irving.

Aston Villa (possible 4-2-2-2) Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers; McGinn, Watkins.
Substitutes: Gauci, Diego Carlos, Barkley, Duran, Buendia, Philogene-Bidace, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Ramsey.

Referee Tony Harrington.

“Have Villa recruited well enough?” wonders Andrew Hurley. “I think Douglas Luiz could be a big loss. And they don’t have enormous depth considering they were literally on fumes the last few games of last season, and they have champions league to come this season. But Emery…”

Ha, yes, Emery. I agree about Douglas Luiz, who was the rug that tied the room together. Onana has huge potential but it’s largely unfulfilled at this stage. It’ll be a boost when Boubacar Kamara is fit again. I don’t mind their depth – the bench tonight includes Diego Carlos, Ross Barkley, Emi Buendia, Ian Maatsen, Jacob Ramsey and Jhon Duran. That’s solid enough.

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“Having suffered another depressing start to my Everton boys’ season, I am looking forward to a palate cleanser of bright football from Villa,” writes Mary Waltz. “I think they will retain their well-earned top four status from last season.”

I don’t think they will, personally, though they’ll be loads of fun to watch and it wouldn’t shock me if they went quite deep in the Champions League.

A reminder of the teams

West Ham (possible 4-2-3-1) Areola, Coufal, Kilman, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Rodriguez; Bowen, Kudus, Lucas Paqueta; Antonio.
Substitutes: Fabianski, Cresswell, Summerville, Ward-Prowse, Fullkrug, Ings, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Irving.

Aston Villa (possible 4-2-2-2) Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers; McGinn, Watkins.
Substitutes: Gauci, Diego Carlos, Barkley, Duran, Buendia, Philogene-Bidace, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Ramsey.

Referee Tony Harrington.

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