Aston Villa vs West Ham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2022-08-27 13:00.
Under pressure Steven Gerrard admits he will be “losing sleep” over who to pick up front as he prepares to shake up his Aston Villa side in a bid to kick-start their faltering start to the season (W1, L2). A poor opening to the campaign leaves the former Liverpool captain among the bookies favourites to be the first Premier League (PL) manager to lose his job, but Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Bolton did at least provide Gerrard with something to smile about.
Transferring that momentum into the PL is now Gerrard’s main goal, but without a clean sheet in eight outings and having won just three times in 13 games (D3, L7), it’s hard to see that midweek victory against League One opposition having much of an effect. The visit of West Ham perhaps isn’t timely then, with Villa’s only victory in the last 12 H2H meetings coming in 2015, a 1-0 victory at Villa Park (D5, L6).
Gerrard squares off against an old nemesis from the blue half of Merseyside in David Moyes, who will be desperate to see West Ham avoid losing their opening four PL games for the first time since 2018/19. The Hammers sit bottom of the table and are the only team yet to pick up a point or even score a goal – but did get some light relief in the Europa Conference League on Thursday as they completed an aggregate 6-1 victory over Viborg to reach the group stages.
Worryingly, their domestic form is a continuation from last season, when a brief flirtation with the Champions League spots was abruptly ended by a run of just one win from their final seven games. Perhaps they can be boosted by this being their landmark 1,000th PL match, although having won 335 of the previous 999 (D253, L411), the London club actually average the lowest points per game (1.26) when compared to the other eight teams in this illustrious club.
Players to watch: Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins might have scored in both personal home H2Hs against the Hammers, but he has lost each of his four meetings with them. Meanwhile, West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen has scored four times in eight games against Villa (W3, D4, L1), three of which came in the second half.
Hot streak: West Ham have not failed to score in four successive Premier League games since a five-match run between September and October 2006.