Villa defender sends Hammers a warning

There’s some brave talk coming out of Villa central defender Axel Tuanzebe as he faces up to a likely confrontation with Mikey Antonio at Villa Park tomorrow (Sun)

The central defender seems unfazed by three Villa defeats on the trot and claims the other claret and blue side  are certainly not feeling sorry for themselves.

It’s the sort of talk we get used to hearing from players who have been on the wrong end of a series of defeats of course but the Hammers have no reason to fear any outfit.

They are unbeaten on the road with wins over Newcastle, Leeds and Everton in the Premier League, a draw at Southampton  a League Cup win at Manchester United plus a Europa League win at Dinamo Zagreb.

That’s a great record to be taking into a match against a team in not such good form and with our strongest team likely to be available

However, the defender says the squad aren’t feeling sorry for themselves following defeats against Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves and Arsenal and are keeping things in perspective – as he puts it.

He said: “We’ve studied, we’ve had a meeting on how we’re going to play and we’ve obviously had a meeting about them.

“We recognise their threats and where they’ve been getting joy from. Our focus will be to nullify that, but on the other hand, we still work on our game and how we can be a problem to them.

“We’ll work on trying to expose their weaknesses to the fullest and getting our rewards.”

He said: “It’s a long campaign and we’re only at the end of October. There’s no need to be down or gloomy.

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