Aston Villa 0 – 0 West Ham
Aston Villa and West Ham played out an entertaining nil-nil draw at a pretty packed Villa Park. The match could have gone either way after Mike Dean sent off Arthur Masuaku for a second yellow card. The game started brightly enough for both teams, who each had chances. In the 13th minute, Jota freed Grealish down the right-wing who produced a sublime cross for Wesley to meet in the 6-yard box. Unfortunately, the big man was unable to steer the ball goalward, but it was a good opportunity missed. For West Ham, Haller had a more difficult header from a cross by Anderson, he too put it wide.
It was then that Mike Dean produced 3 cards in the space of six minutes. The first of which went to Masuaku for a foul on Guilbert, which looked reasonable enough. Then came a card for Grealish who slid in on Anderson, it looked rather soft and wasn’t malicious. Noble was also to receive a card, again it looked soft but Dean pointed out it was his fifth such challenge. This brief flurry of cards was followed by a couple of chances for Villa. Firstly Grealish chipped the ball into the box only to see Guilbert ghost in at the far post and nod a tame ball back to the keeper. The second was a shot by the excellent McGinn who saw Fabianski make a good save.
Then came a moment of madness after 35 minutes. Mings and El Ghazi clashed after the big defender berated the winger for failing to track back during a West Ham move. It looked as though there was a clash of heads when El Ghazi looked to move his head at Mings. Inside the stadium, it wasn’t clear what was happening when Mike Dean delayed the corner from being taken. It was only later that we were made aware that the incident was referred to VAR, fortunately, no further action was required. Three minutes later, Noble went down in the box, it didn’t look as if there was contact. Fortunately for Noble, Dean let it pass otherwise he could have been given a second yellow for that.
Once again, Wesley had a heading opportunity, only for him to tamely nod it down to Fabiansky. Fortunately for him, he was caught offside to spare his blushes. Finally, right before half-time McGinn latched onto a low cross by El Ghazi and produced another rasping drive which was excellently saved by Fabianski.
HT: Aston Villa 0 – 0 West Ham
The second half began with West Ham looking to drive forward. A free-kick taken by Anderson was heading for Haller but McGinn flew into the challenge, injuring himself in the process. Then came Lanzini into the box but a Grealish challenge deflected the ball across the box to Taylor for him to head back to Heaton. West Ham were looking more menacing. The odd chance however was falling to Villa, once again McGinn looking the most dangerous with another shot just wide of West Ham’s goal. Forward again came West Ham, in the shape of Rice who tried a shot from outside the box. This time Grealish threw his body in the way.
Once again, Villa were defending when Elmohamady (on for the tiring Jota) slipped the ball past Masuaku only for the defender to catch him. Mike Dean showed no hesitation showing Masuaku a second yellow card followed by the red. Television clips show that there was little or no contact. West Ham swiftly replaced Anderson with Zabaleta to cover the right-back position vacated.
Villa tried to push on after this but seemed unable to capitalise. In fact, West Ham looked more threatening on the break with Mings blocking a shot from Haller. From the stands, it appeared that the match could go either way, one Villa attack followed by a West Ham long ball to Haller who did well holding the ball up for his team.
In the 88th minute, Grealish had the chance to win the game with a volley from a cross by Luiz. Unfortunately, he put the show wide while stretching for the ball. Next, Ogbonna almost put a header into his own net when meeting a cross from El Ghazi. In the final minute, West Ham had penalty appeals rejected turned down after Fredericks went down in the box after a challenge by Mings. VAR wasn’t interested either.
In the end, a draw was probably a fair result for both teams, neither having the cutting edge to open up the other’s defence. The red card affected Villa as much as West Ham and they were unable to make the most of an extra man advantage.
Teams:
Aston Villa: Heaton, Guilbert (Davis), Engels, Mings🟨, Taylor, Grealish🟨, Nakamba (Luiz), McGinn, Jota (Elmohamady), Wesley, El Ghazi
West Ham: Fabianski, Masuaku🟨🟥, Ogbonna, Diop, Fredericks, Rice, Anderson (Zabaleta), Lanzini, Noble🟨 (Balbuena), Yarmolenko (Fornals), Haller