Aston Villa 4 West Ham 1: Player Ratings

Areola:5 Great save from a curling Luiz shot. Unlucky with Villa’s opener which took a defection off Aguerd. Had a busy day.

Coufal:5 Not massively involved and fluffed his lines when he did break into the Villa box.

Zouma:5 Struggled with Watkins movement. His inability to run in the build-up to Luiz’s opener is very concerning. Did manage to block a Watkins shot in the 68th min.

Aguerd:6 Called into action very early in the game. His long-range passing helped West Ham’s counter attack. Great pace to thwart a Diaby attack. Almost scored with an excellent volley.

Emerson:7 In excellent form but won’t feature against Everton next week following another avoidable yellow.

Alvarez:6 Made a vital block in the 19th min. Conceded the penalty following a bad decision from Paqueta.

Ward-Prowse:7 Put in a good defensive shift. Had some good quality from open play.

Soucek:5 A bit redundant given our lack of corners for most of the first half.

Bowen:7 Had a half chance early on and looked fit. Scored a deflected long range goal to make the game 2-1.

Paqueta:6 An absolute class act who links so well with Emerson. Unfortunately played Alvarez into trouble for the Villa penalty.

Antonio:5 Always looking to beat Villa’s high line with mixed results early on. Some of his passing was atrocious and his first touch wasn’t much better. Produced an excellent cross in the 70th min.

Kudus:6 65th min sub for Soucek. Took up a left wing role which nullified his goal threat. Poor touch led to Villa countering for their third goal. Had a decent run in the 93rd min.

Ings: 85th min sub for Paqueta

Fornals: 89th min sub for Antonio