West Ham United’s Premier League survival fight heads on the road as they travel to Aston Villa for a Sunday afternoon kick off. Nuno Espirito Santo’s team put on a dominant defensive display as they held off Manchester City last weekend for a point, with the result meaning the Hammers are only in the relegation zone on goal difference.
West Ham will know they can climb out of the bottom three with a win, as Nottingham Forest face Tottenham Hotspur in the two places above them. Aston Villa present another significant test for the Hammers, with them aiming to stay in the top four. This is another team playing Europe in midweek, something Nuno’s team will look to capitalise on once again.
Match Officials
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistant Referees: Richard West & Mark Scholes
Fourth Official: Samuel Barrott
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis
Paul Tierney has been named referee for West Ham‘s away trip to Aston Villa on Sunday.
The 45-year-old has been a Premier League referee since 2014, taking charge of the 2019 Championship playoff final alongside the 2021 League Cup final and 2023 FA Cup final.
Tierney has overseen 18 West Ham matches, including 16 in the Premier League. His first Hammers game was a 1-1 draw with Everton and his most recent was the 3-0 loss at Manchester City in December last year.
The referee has not officiated an Aston Villa fixture in just under two years, in a run going back to March 2024.
Assisting Tierney in this game will be Richard West and Mark Scholes.
West has huge experience running the line in the Premier League, doing so in 339 top flight games and over 450 professional games under his belt. He has assisted at 30 West Ham games in his career.
Scholes has assisted 432 times, including 273 times in the Premier League. He has also run the line at 30 West Ham games.
Samuel Barrott will the be the fourth official at Villa Park. Barrott has refereed 18 Premier League games this season, including the Hammers 1-1 draw at Everton in September of last year and the 0-0 draw with AFC Bournemouth last month.
VAR
On VAR duties will be Stuart Atwell. He refereed West Ham’s defeat at Leeds United in October and has served as VAR 27 times in the Premier League this season. That includes two Hammers games and outside of that, Atwell has been on VAR duties for nine UEFA Champions League games.
Attwell will be assisted by Constantine Hatzidakis. The refereed has assisted at 285 Premier League games and worked as VAR for 59 in that time.
