Aston Villa completely justified their decision to rotate players for their capitulation against Tottenham by storming into the Europa League final with a 4-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest.
John McGinn — who had been sitting in the stands supposedly injured as Unai Emery’s side rolled over and had their tummies tickled against Spurs — was outstanding against Vítor Pereira’s team.
From a West Ham perspective, it only made things feel worse. On that showing, there’s no way Villa would have folded against Roberto De Zerbi’s side in the way they did earlier in the week.
Villa Backlash And Jordan’s Verdict
Earlier this week, TalkSport presenter and former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan labelled Villa’s performance against Spurs as the worst he’d ever seen from a Premier League side.
And, to be fair, plenty of Villa fans weren’t exactly thrilled with what they saw either.
Relegation Swing Hits West Ham Hard
I probably should let it go — but the swing has had massive consequences in the relegation race. The results have effectively flipped positions, with West Ham now back in the bottom three.
Not that Villa are to blame. They were fully entitled to rotate.
What was more disappointing was the lack of effort from those who came in — players who should have been fighting to force their way into Emery’s European plans.
Hammers Only Have Themselves To Blame
But, as frustrating as it is, West Ham’s position isn’t down to Aston Villa.
There’s no bad luck or conspiracy here.
If the Hammers hadn’t thrown away a huge opportunity against a rotated Crystal Palace side — and then followed it up with a 3-0 defeat to Brentford — we wouldn’t be in this position.
The reality is simple.
Our own performances have left us relying on favours from others.
And when it comes to the crunch, Aston Villa quite rightly prioritised their own shot at silverware over three Premier League points that ultimately mean very little to their season.
Quite agree Pat, we can not rely on other results. It was in our hands to beat Brentford and we didn’t.
Can not blame villa for not putting out their first team, we would have done the same in their position.
I just say now to West Ham players it is up to you all to step up and put out a good display on Sunday.
We can not go down without a fight
And fans, let’s make that stadium rock, make some noise from start to finish, to give us any chance at all, the players need to hear you are behind them
Come on you Irons
Not much point in even debating what happened with Spurs and villa, we are ( and have been) riding our luck , personally I really haven’t seen much to write home about regarding this team, if this the “new level” we were promised, then it’s quite disappointing, 60 + years of supporting and this is what it has come to, constant relagation battles, defensive football lacking entertainment, we are a club in decline, relagation this year or next is inevitable, at least in days gone by the football , win ,lose , or draw was worth watching….🙏🏻
Proves two games Spurs have won doesn’t necessarily indicate they have turned it around.
Still all to fight for reports have condemned whu to relegation but maybe not.
Come on Nuno take it to the death.
Less talk about Spurs going down by media but need to take them by surprise.
Look there os more than one reason we are in this situation and it isn’t just one game, but it does make a mockery of the Premiership and it’s fair play rules on fielding the strongest team. Basically it’s all down to money. Villa win in Europe and we have another European winner in the Premiership, drawing bigger players and more money in.
Have Villa inadvertently done us a favour? That was a mighty blow to the confidence of a previously buoyant Forest and I note that 3 of their most important players were unfit for the game (including Gibbs White). It probably means nothing, but you never know
Good point Morty. Looks like Forest are prioritising PL over a battle with Villa.
If we were in Villa’s position we would have probably done the same.
You are right, 3 years ago we were, and we did.
Yes,I agree,West Ham do have themselves to blame but doesn’t help when one of the top teams in the division rolls over against a relegation rival.Is it the arrogant Emery or is it his “can’t be bothered players?”Think Villa owe that attendance their money back for throwing the game.
If you have to rely on others to do your work for you then you have a problem and saying the players Villa played on Sunday were poor and not trying maybe true but lets face it our fate was IN our own hands yet our players were not up for the fight.
We may have been unlucky at Brentford but again the players never started playing until we were a goal down so look in the mirror because at the end of the day we just are not good enough and we all new it as fans shame the management at the club did not see it.