West Ham were held to a 0-0 draw at Villa Park on Monday night. The Hammers started off brightly but Villa were more than willing to match their intensity.
As predicted, Villa looked for their big man Wesley Moraes to get involved whilst Jack Grealish hung in and around the penalty area to create chances. Aston Villa’s John McGinn started brightly and took one or two pot shots at goal to keep Lukasz Fabianski on his toes.
Whilst looking as though they lacked creativity, Sebastian Haller was a physical problem for Tyrone Mings and Bjorn Engels. He used his stature to bring his creative midfielders into play. However, the link-up wasn’t what it had been in previous weeks.
West Ham then had Arthur Masuaku sent off in the second half for a second yellow card that seemed fairly innocuous. He and Felipe Anderson exchanged a number of times and offered a threat going forward. From this point, West Ham were expected to defend deep and bought on Pablo Zabaleta at left-back.
The sending-off had the opposite effect. Villa looked panicked with the amount of space they had whilst Declan Rice and Mark Noble looked to pick the ball up in midfield and distribute to the wings.
Pablo Fornals later came on to offer intensity and a few slick through passes. He showed that there is a good player there, but he lacked composure in the final third. Needless to say, Lukasz Fabianski and the centre-backs were superb throughout. Many times last season, and in fairness in the early stages this season, they would have capitulated. However, they looked resolute and calm, even at 10 men down.
It’s not the result Manuel Pellegrini would have looked for on his birthday but in these circumstances, a point and a clean sheet is a good result. Let’s have a look at who I thought played well and who didn’t.
