West Ham United heads to Aston Villa for a Sunday clash of two sides that very much look alike, uniform wise. However, they’re in quite different places this season, and we don’t just mean where they reside in the table. The Hammers are rebuilding, again, with Graham Potter having taken over the reins earlier this month.
West Ham United at Aston Villa FYIs
Kickoff: Sun Jan. 26, 4:30pm, Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
Team News: West Ham United Aston Villa
Google Result Probability: Aston Villa 63% Draw 21% West Ham 16%
The Irons are buried pretty deep on the second page of the standings.
As for the Villans, they are still very much in contention for the UEFA competition qualification slots. So both really need Ws, and there is no time like the present to get going on that.
The Hammers will be hurt by their lack of options in attack, and the suspension of Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Starting XI Predictions
West Ham United
Lukasz Fabianski; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Max Kilman, Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal; Edson Alvarez, Carlos Soler, Emerson Palmieri; Lucas Paqueta, Tomas Soucek, Mohammed Kudus
Aston Villa
Emiliano Martinez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne; Boubacar Kamara, Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans; Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran, Ollie Watkins
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.