A second-half header from Emerson earned West Ham United a deserved 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, as Graham Potter's team produced an encouraging display at Villa Park.
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The wing-back stole round the back to nod Edson Alvarez's cross home after 70 minutes as Villa's midweek UEFA Champions League exploits appeared to take their toll.
An excellent Jacob Ramsey goal had given the hosts the lead after eight minutes before they lost defender Tyrone Mings to a worrying knee injury.
But Villa appeared to run out of steam and were put on the back foot by the Hammers in the second half, with Danny Ings and Lucas Paqueta both going close to a winner.
The draw sees West Ham move 11 points clear of the bottom three, while Villa remain eighth, four points behind fourth-placed Manchester City.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
Man City
MCI
|
23 | +17 | 41 |
| 5 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
23 | +14 | 41 |
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
23 | +15 | 40 |
| 7 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
23 | +15 | 40 |
| 8 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
23 | -1 | 37 |
| 9 |
Brighton
BHA
|
23 | +4 | 34 |
How the match unfolded
Unai Emery's hosts swarmed all over West Ham in the early stages, taking the lead after just eight minutes.
A superb one-two between Ramsey and Ollie Watkins saw the former run through on goal and finish neatly with his left foot for his first Premier League strike since September 2023.
Morgan Rogers also had the ball in the net two minutes later, but Watkins was flagged offside in the build-up.
The first half ended on a sombre note for the hosts, though, as Mings hobbled off looking distraught after taking a knock to his left knee in a collision with Mohammed Kudus.
West Ham equalised with a well-worked effort 20 minutes from time, though, as Alvarez's cross was headed in by the unmarked Emerson at the back post.
Watch Emerson's equaliser
Álvarez ➡️ Emerson 💫
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 26, 2025
A goal that our performance deserved! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/YiBXPH4LZQ
Substitute Ings then went close to earning all three points with a fizzing effort as West Ham ended the stronger of the two sides.
Ramsey back in business
It has been so long since Ramsey broke into Villa's first team that it is easily forgotten he is still 23 years old and very much the club's future, as well as its present.
He sent out a reminder of his exciting talent by opening the scoring early on at Villa Park, brilliantly latching on to Watkins' return pass before powering into the box to score.
This was the attacking midfielder's 12th start of the season in all competitions as he battles to remain fit for a decent period of time, but it is clear his previous injury struggles have not slowed him down.
While Emery will be delighted that Ramsey is fit and firing, there will be real concern about Mings.
The defender was missing from August 2023 to October 2024 after sustaining a serious knee injury and could not continue here after being on the receiving end of a firm – but fair – Kudus challenge.
Mings attempted to play on before hanging his head as he hobbled off the field and his side flagged without him, Lucas Digne coming on to fill in at centre-back after Emery was forced into a reshuffle.
Encouragement for Potter
Potter set West Ham up with a back three but the starting XI he named was a reminder of the gaps in his squad.
In defence, Max Kilman was the visitors' only natural centre-back, sitting between two recognised full-backs in Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell.
And Potter is still operating without a natural centre-forward, too, with Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville, Michail Antonio and Niclas Fullkrug all injured, but West Ham's performance defied those issues.
Fortunately, one of their defenders had his sights set accurately, Emerson appearing at the far post to nod in, and only one team looked like winning from then on.
Still, while Potter will be encouraged by this display, reported interest in Villa substitute Jhon Duran makes sense.
The striker cannot nail down a regular place in Villa's side and would add an obvious threat having scored seven Premier League goals this season.
Club reports
Aston Villa report | West Ham report
What the managers said
Unai Emery: "They were pushing and got into our box and scored one goal. We didn't feel strong or the fresh legs to recover or dominate or try to score. We have circumstances like the injury of Tyrone Mings and we don't have another proper centre-back."
"We started the second part of the season with two wins and two draws. We have to keep going and focus on Wednesday, recover some players, and try to use the last week in the transfer window. We have to get our performances quality. We want to play in Europe."
Graham Potter: "We just got caught in a couple of actions early on and then we had to suffer a little bit, but from then on I thought we were really, really good.
"The reaction to their goal was great, we pushed and pushed second half, created some really good chances, played with personality, played with effort, so it was really good."
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Match facts
Aston Villa have failed to win four of the 11 Premier League matches they’ve scored first in this season (W7 D2 L2), more than they did in the 19 fixtures they opened the scoring in last campaign (W16 D2 L1).
Ollie Watkins became the second Aston Villa player to be directly involved in 100+ Premier League goals (61 goals, 39 assists), along with Gabriel Agbonlahor. Watkins reached the century in just 169 appearances, which was 108 fewer than Agbonlahor (277).
This was the first time a Potter side had avoided defeat when conceding first in a Premier League match since October 2022 (Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace). Prior to this evening, the West Ham boss had lost each of his last nine matches when seeing his team concede the opener.
