Aston Villa defeat relegation-battling West Ham to make most of rivals dropping points

[p]The visitors suffered a pre-match blow with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/todibo-jean-clair/E10MWYEe/"]Jean-Clair Todibo[/a] getting injured in the warm-up, but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hermansen-mads/fq8hQjAg/"]Mads Hermansen[/a] sprang across his goalline to tip [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/digne-lucas/v9Ux4sua/"]Lucas Digne[/a]’s strike wide before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mavropanos-konstantinos/zBXgM0Xa/"]Konstatinos Mavropanos[/a] headed away the ensuing corner to ensure there wasn’t any added disappointment early on.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]Villa[/a] Park was given reason to erupt on the quarter-hour mark, though, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cash-matty/hfxPh7Kn/"]Matty Cash[/a] played a free-kick short to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sancho-jadon/n5mG9yn6/"]Jadon Sancho[/a], who played a perfectly-weighted pass for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcginn-john/rgGnzD2e/"]John McGinn[/a] to effortlessly stroke a first-time effort in from the edge of the box.[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/castellanos-valentin/ET4rsqIP/"]Taty Castellanos[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/onana-amadou/roId3gPf/"]Amadou Onana[/a] headed wide at either end shortly after the opener, before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/watkins-ollie/rHnOkDD8/"]Ollie Watkins[/a] struck wide and then teed up [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rogers-morgan/lp4jm80n/"]Morgan Rogers[/a] for an effort that was well saved by Hermansen.[/p][p]Rogers also had a shot blocked by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wan-bissaka-aaron/faGmGOOh/"]Aaron Wan-Bissaka[/a] as the Villans continued to cut through the visitors with ease, and he was then denied by a miraculous Mavropanos header on the line.[/p][p]The Greece international got his body in the way yet again to deflect a Watkins shot wide, and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/konsa-ezri/4CQLQWTa/"]Ezri Konsa[/a] then bounced a header over the crossbar shortly before the break.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="d3ae53b3-15b2-47d2-be27-4599d040202d" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="6f8992a3-8f99-44a2-9e05-276871637fde" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mendes-nuno/ne2xCTJj/"]Nuno Espirito Santo[/a] responded with a double change ahead of the restart, but the hosts remained on the front foot with Hermansen being forced to tip a venomous [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/barkley-ross/Stsozgbg/"]Ross Barkley[/a] strike over the crossbar and Matty Cash came agonisingly close from range moments later.[/p][p]The Hammers started to create openings of their own as the half progressed, yet [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fernandes-bruno/GYvAMDm2/"]Matues Fernandes[/a] was denied by Digne, before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/martinez-emiliano/ziCcc5jM/"]Emiliano Martinez[/a] held [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/disasi-axel/Q32vx71U/"]Axel Disasi[/a]’s header and Konsa got his head to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bowen-jarrod/pW170H9K/"]Jarrod Bowen[/a]’s effort.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pablo/WUmzSYj5/"]Pablo[/a] then blazed his shot over the crossbar, and the disappointment from that effort was compounded when Hermansen unconvincingly parried Rogers’ shot and was punished when Watkins pounced to finish.[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/abraham-tammy/OYhxyduf/"]Tammy Abraham[/a]’s audacious attempt in the final moments trickled harmlessly wide, but the work had long been done as Villa ended their four-game winless run in the PL to capitalise on teams around them dropping points to go within one point of third-placed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-united/ppjDR086/"]Manchester United[/a] and five points clear of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/liverpool/lId4TMwf/"]Liverpool[/a].[/p][p]In contrast, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Nottingham Forest[/a]’s win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tottenham/UDg08Ohm/"]Tottenham Hotspur[/a] means [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/west-ham/Cxq57r8g/"]West Ham[/a] are one point behind Spurs after the Hammers suffered just the second defeat from their last nine matches across all competitions.[/p][image alt="Momentum" id="e4b593fa-99d7-4b19-a200-2dc9f26af4d2" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="edb0ad3c-5830-4d72-ae5d-0e1f2ed83e69" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/watkins-ollie/rHnOkDD8/"]Ollie Watkins[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]Aston Villa[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/aston-villa-W00wmLO0/west-ham-Cxq57r8g/?mid=U7CL8Og5"]Get all the match stats here with Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]