Julen Lopetegui lost his first Premier League game in charge of West Ham United, as Jhon Duran’s strike secured a 2-1 victory for Aston Villa at the London Stadium.
West Ham have spent big in the transfer market to back their new coach, but the Hammers ultimately fell short in their opening match of 2024-25.
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Lucas Paqueta’s penalty cancelled out an early opener from Villa debutant Amadou Onana, while Leon Bailey had struck the woodwork for the visitors too.
Substitute Duran – who was reportedly a target for the Hammers – would have the final say though, neatly finishing off a team move to restore Villa’s lead with 11 minutes of normal time remaining.
How the match unfolded
It took just four minutes for Onana to open his Villa account, shrugging off Michail Antonio at a corner to head home Youri Tielemans’ delivery from close range.
Villa should have got a second shortly after – Bailey snuck in behind the Hammers defence before rounding Alphonse Areola, only to strike the post of an empty goal from a tight angle.
Matty Cash’s clumsy challenge on Tomas Soucek provided West Ham with a lifeline as referee Tony Harrington awarded a penalty, with VAR confirming his decision. Paqueta then sent Emiliano Martinez the wrong way with the spot-kick.
Villa had chances to restore their lead after the restart, though Areola was on hand to scramble Morgan Rogers’ effort away before Duran fired wide instead of teeing up Jacob Ramsey for what could have been a tap-in.
But Duran made no mistake when it fell to him in the box a second time, calmly drilling a first-time finish beyond Areola, with Villa weathering a late West Ham flurry to clinch the points.
Lopetegui’s stuttering start
The home crowd were buoyant as they ushered in the Hammers’ new era, though the atmosphere was quickly dampened after conceding so early.
There were signs for optimism though, as Soucek fired a shot wide in the first minute, while Emerson forced a good save out of Martinez low at his near post before half-time.
West Ham matched Villa for most of the contest, but their lack of end product may already be a worry for Lopetegui in these early stages.
Mohammed Kudus and new captain Jarrod Bowen both provided a threat down the wings, but even after the introduction of new signing Niclas Fullkrug, an adept target man who has proved himself at the highest level in Europe, the wide players struggled to make their deliveries count.
West Ham have lost more Premier League opening games than any other team, with this their 16th such defeat, and Lopetegui will want to see a clinical edge against Crystal Palace next up.
Duran delivers
After the high of qualifying for the Champions League last season, the danger for Villa is they let the intensity drop.
And though it looked at one stage like Unai Emery would be left rueing several missed chances in the first half that could have put his team out of sight, Villa found a way to get over the line.
It was not just the debutant, Onana, that caught the eye, as Rogers ran the show from midfield, cutting through the hosts with marauding runs, even if he lacked an end product at times.
And it was fitting that Duran had the final word.
The Colombian forward looked set to leave Villa earlier in the transfer window, with West Ham one of the clubs interested. Indeed, Duran even shared a video on social media in which he made an ‘irons’ gesture.
Yet he has stayed put, and ultimately came up good in the decisive moment, and perhaps that will have made amends for his misjudgement in the eyes of Villa fans.
What managers said
Julen Lopetegui: "At the start of the match we made a big gift for them. They had more confidence and energy. We had the last 20 minutes under control and had a good chance to score the second goal, but didn't."
Unai Emery: "This year we are improving our level facing the Champions League. Of course we want to keep the same position competing the way we did last year and we have to be very demanding with our players. We are ready to play the next match at home against Arsenal on Saturday"
Club reports
West Ham report | Aston Villa report
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Key facts
Aston Villa’s win was their first in the opening round of a new Premier League season since 2020-21 (1-0 v Sheffield United), with Villa having lost each of their previous three MD1 games prior to today, including a 5-1 defeat to Newcastle last year.
West Ham have now won just one of their last nine Premier League opening round fixtures (D1 L7), with each of their last four opening round losses having come at home; additionally, the Hammers have now won just two of their last 21 Premier League games against the previous season’s top four (D4 L15).
Jhon Durán has now scored six Premier League goals from just 616 minutes played in the competition, an average of one every 103 minutes; among players to have scored 5+ Premier League goals, only Erling Haaland (85) has averaged a better minutes to goals rate.
Lucas Paquetá has now scored all five penalties he’s taken for West Ham United in all competitions (excl. shootouts), with four of those coming in the Premier League; overall, the Hammers have scored 14 of their last 15 penalties in all competitions (excl. shootouts), with the only miss during that period being Saïd Benrahma v Arsenal in December 2023.
