Hammers finally get a stroke of luck in Villa victory

West Ham won their first game of the season against Aston Villa thanks to Pablo Fornals’ deflected strike from long-range but this was an absolutely dire game of football.

The first-half, in particular, was dreadful, with barely anything of note from either side, both of whom are clearly struggling for confidence.

The goal, really, was illustrative of the lack of quality in the game; Fornals had a long-range effort that looped off the defender Ezri Konsa and found its way into the back of the net.

Villa thought they had their first goal of the game after just 13 minutes, as Konsa tapped in after Philippe Coutinho’s header from a corner hit the post.

However, the linesman’s flag went up, and the goal was ruled out, as the ball went out of play before finding its way into the box.

Ben Johnson was injured in the first half and replaced by Vlad Coufal but there was barely anything else to speak of.

The second half brought a change, as Said Benrahma came on, and on the hour mark, Mikey Antonio replaced Gianluca Scamacca.

Jarrod Bowen was sent through on goal on the 55^th minute and appeared set to score when one-on-one but he delayed pulling the trigger and Lucas Digne made a superb tackle to deny him.

Fornals scored in the 73^rd minute and the Hammers had to deal with some intense late pressure from Villa, as Steven Gerrard threw attacking players onto the pitch.

They just about managed to do so and are now on the board with three points.

However, questions remain over how good the Irons can actually be, as this was largely a very, very poor performance, that had one moment of good fortune.

It’s just Spurs and Chelsea to come this week…