Kick-off: 30/11/2020
Stadium: London Stadium
TV: Sky Sports
Aston Villa’s perfect away record will be on the line when they travel to London to face in-form West Ham.
Villa have won all three matches on their travels this season without conceding a goal while West Ham have kept back-to-back clean sheets in victories over Fulham and Sheffield United.
This looks a tricky fixture for both teams so we’re sitting on the fence for our opening West Ham vs Aston Villa prediction and backing the draw at 5/2.
A Look At West Ham United’s Betting Odds
West Ham have defied almost all expectations by picking up 14 points from a tricky opening set of fixtures which has already seen them play Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool.
David Moyes’ side start the weekend in eighth place and will be hoping to climb even higher with four of their next six games all at home.
“I am not getting carried away, but there is a real self-belief at the moment, the football is getting better and better,” said Moyes.
“I am not looking down, we are certainly looking up. We want to catch the teams higher up the league, that’s for sure.
“We want to keep this run going and keep this momentum going and build on it.
“I would hope we would always be able to say we want to be challenging for the top eight, but I don’t want to promise supporters anything at the moment. I want to actually deliver more than is expected.”
The West Ham vs Aston Villa odds suggest this will be a high-scoring game but the Hammers have kept four clean sheets in their last seven matches, while limiting Manchester City to just one goal at this venue last month.
With that in mind, we’re tempted to think the value is with under 2.5 goals at 21/20.
Last West Ham line-up: Fabianski, Cresswell, Balbuena, Coufal, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Fornals, Soucek, Rice, Bowen, Haller.
Moyes could be handed a boost soon with the recovery of Michail Antonio from a hamstring injury which has forced him onto the sidelines for over a month.
A Look At Aston Villa’s Betting Odds
Both of these teams may have been expected to be languishing in the bottom half of the table this season but it has been so far so good.
Villa have had the better start and are one point above the Hammers having played a game less, although they have lost three out of their last four.
These look two well-matched teams and that was the case last season when both meetings ended in a draw.
The most recent of those was here in July when Jack Grealish gave Villa an 84th-minute lead, only for West Ham to hit straight back through Andriy Yarmolenko.
With both teams enjoying similar levels of improvement so far, let’s go for another 1-1 draw at 25/4 as our final West Ham vs Aston Villa prediction.
Last Aston Villa line-up: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, McGinn, Grealish, Trezeguet, Barkley, Watkins.
Ross Barkley’s hamstring injury is not as bad as first feared but he is likely to be out until the middle of December.
Frederic Guilbert has returned to training with Kortney Hause but Bjorn Engels (thigh) remains out along with Wesley and Tom Heaton (both knee).
Additional stats
Last result:
Sheff Utd 0-1 WEST HAM – Sebastian Haller
ASTON VILLA 1-2 Brighton – Ezri Konsa
Head-to-head: West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa, Aston Villa 0-0 West Ham
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