Declan Rice and Michail Antonio set to return for West Ham at Aston Villa, who are hopeful of welcoming goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez back; watch Aston Villa vs West Ham on Super Sunday on Sky Sports Premier League from 4pm; kick-off 4.30pm
Tuesday 2 November 2021 09:23, UK
Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Aston Villa vs West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday; kick-off 4.30pm.
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez is expected to play against West Ham after returning from Argentina following a family emergency involving his father.
Martinez flew back to his homeland after Villa's Premier League defeat at Arsenal to be at his dad's bedside, but he is back in England and trained with the rest of the Villa squad on Friday, having done some training at the national team's headquarters while in Argentina.
Villa are monitoring the fitness of Leon Bailey as he nears a first Premier League start, while Keinan Davis is fit again. However, Morgan Sanson and Jaden Philogene-Bidace will both miss out through illness.
West Ham will welcome back Declan Rice and Michail Antonio after the pair were rested for the Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out win over Manchester City.
Vladimir Coufal is fit after a groin problem and Alex Kral is also available after a period of self-isolation. Ryan Fredericks is now the only injury absentee.
Aston Villa vs West Ham is live on Sky Sports Premier League from 4pm; kick-off 4.30pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
"Qualifying for European football is very much part of our strategic plan," Aston Villa's chief executive Christian Purslow said in pre-season.
That may sound a tall order for a club in just their third full season back in the Premier League, but owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are ambitious - outlined by a net spend of over £200m in the transfer market since promotion. Performances like the one at Arsenal and the collapse against Wolves certainly don't bode well for Dean Smith, who must be a runner in the next manager to be sacked market at 14/1 with Sky Bet.
A repeat of the Arsenal showing here and West Ham, who are a better team than the Gunners according to all known metrics, will roll over Villa. As David Moyes said after the win over Spurs, he expects them to be challenging for the top-four this season and the performance metrics suggest he's right to have that lofty target.
Since the start of last season, their haul of 82 points is only bettered by Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United - a statistic backed up by all the expected goals data. West Ham, helped by having arguably the best midfielder in the Premier League on current form in Declan Rice, are among the elite, yet, they are not priced up like it by the markets in games such as this one. The 6/4 for an away win is too big to ignore.
SCORE PREDICTION: 0-2 | BETTING ANGLE: West Ham to win (6/4 with Sky Bet)
Pete Smith is joined by Jamie Redknapp, Oliver Yew and Simeon Gholam to preview another bumper weekend of Premier League action.
PART 1 | Jamie Redknapp previews the Saturday Night Football clash between Tottenham and Manchester United. Will United bounce back from their humiliating 5-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend?
PART 2 | Pete Smith is joined by Oliver Yew and Simeon Gholam to look ahead to Aston Villa vs West Ham on Super Sunday. West Ham's season continues to get better and better after their Carabao Cup victory against Man City. Will that good run continue at Villa Park?
PART 3 | Norwich vs Leeds on Super Sunday and Wolves vs Everton on Monday Night Football: Pressure building on Daniel Farke, Rafael Benitez looking for solutions.