by Staff Writer
Sunday, 22nd March 2026
A last-minute, forced change did little to aid Nuno Santo's West Ham as they fell to their first defeat in a month at Villa Park this afternoon.
The unfortunate loss of Jean-Clair Todibo during the warm-up was a portent of things to come, as goals from John McGinn and Ollie Watkins condemned the Hammers to their first defeat since going down 5-2 at Liverpool on 28 February.
And it might've been worse for the Hammers had a first half penalty, incorrectly awarded against Konstantine Mavropanos by bungling referee Paul Tierney, not correctly been overturned by the VAR team upon review.
West Ham, who rarely threatened to trouble their Champions League-chasing opponents also fell further behind fellow relegation candidates Nottingham Forest in the table - although know a win against Wolves in their next Premier League outing would take them two points clear of Tottenham, who went down 3-0 to the Tricky Trees in north London this afternoon.
We'll have a full match report for you soon...
West Ham Utd: Hermansen, Wan-Bissaka (Magassa 83), Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf, Soucek (Kante 83), Fernandes, Potts (Adama 46) Bowen (c), Pablo, Castellanos (Wilson 46)
Unused Subs: Areola, Herrick, Walker-Peters, Scarles, Kilman
Booked: Wan-Bissaka
Aston Villa: Martínez, Cash, Konsa, Pau, Digne, Onana, McGinn © (Tielemans 67), Barkley (Luiz 67), Sancho (Bailey 67), Rogers (Buendia 77), Watkins (Abraham 87)
Unused Subs: Bizot, Bogarde, Maatsen, Mings
Goals: McGinn (15), Watkins (68)
Possession: AVFC 59%-41% WHUFC
Shots/On Target: AVFC 23/7-9/1 WHUFC
xG: AVFC 1.68-0.94 WHUFC
Referee: Paul Tierney
Attendance: 42,130
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