West Ham United’s five consecutive wins against Aston Villa in Premier League (PL) H2Hs came to an end after a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium.
In the early stages of the match, the pace was slow, but West Ham had a chance to score in the first 15 minutes with Nayef Aguerd and Saïd Benrahma, who missed the target. Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins broke the deadlock with a header from Álex Moreno’s cross, becoming the second Villa player to score in four consecutive PL away games.
However, Watkins had to rescue his team from conceding an equalizer when he cleared Lucas Paquetá’s shot off the line. Unfortunately, Leon Bailey fouled Paquetá to concede a penalty, which Benrahma converted with a high and emphatic strike.
West Ham’s Kurt Zouma missed an opportunity to score from Benrahma’s exquisite cross, and Watkins was denied a goal from close range. In the second half, Benrahma was eager to score a second goal and had several attempts, including a saved volley, a curled strike that went past the post, and a shot that was tipped over the crossbar.
The Hammers’ diagonal balls caused problems for Villa’s defense, but they managed to keep them out. Despite late goalbound efforts from Benrahma and Jhon Durán, West Ham settled for a draw, extending their unbeaten streak at home to four consecutive league matches and climbing out of the relegation zone.
Aston Villa, on the other hand, extended their unbeaten run to three matches and remained in 11th place in the PL table.
