Aston Villa host their claret and blue cousins West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Draped in the same colours, neither club has rocketed through the opening weeks of this burgeoning season. While Villa can at least lean upon one victory against Everton sandwiched between a pair of convincing defeats, West Ham are the only pointless and goalless team in the top four tiers of English football this term.
Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming meeting between this pair.
Channel: Sky Soccer Sunday (Studio Updates Only)
Broadcast Time: 13:00 (BST)
Channel: NBC Universo
Streaming Service: NBC Sports
Streaming Service: Peacock Premium
Broadcast Time EST: 09:00
Broadcast Time PST: 06:00
Streaming Service: fuboTV
Broadcast Time (EST): 09:00
Where can you watch Aston Villa vs West Ham Highlights?
Channel: Sky Sports Football
Channel: BBC Match of the Day 2
Stream: Sky Football YouTube channel
H2H Results (Last Five Games)
Aston Villa: 0 Wins
West Ham: 4 Wins
Draws: 1
Current Form (Last Five Games)
Aston Villa: WLWLW
West Ham: DLLWL
Aston Villa team news
Steven Gerrard broke from the norm by fielding a full-strength side for Villa’s 4-1 EFL Cup triumph over third-tier Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night. Diego Carlos is the team’s only significant absentee and is expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon.
Aston Villa Starting 11: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Luiz, Kamara, McGinn; Coutinho; Ings, Watkins.
Bench: Olsen, Young, Chambers, Buendia, Bailey, Archer, Ramsey, Iroegbunam, Feeney.
West Ham team news
While David Moyes is still waiting to hand a debut to the injured Nayef Aguerd, fellow defender Vladimir Coufal may join him in the treatment room. The Czech Republic international had to depart the pitch as part of a concussion protocol during West Ham’s comprehensive 2-0 defeat to Brighton last weekend.
Craig Dawson’s thigh injury gave Thilo Kehrer the chance to line up at centre back against the Seagulls for a debut to swiftly forget. If Dawson can’t recover by Sunday, the German may have to be used there again while Angelo Ogbonna builds his fitness.
West Ham Starting 11: Fabianski; Johnson, Zouma, Kehrer, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma; Antonio.
Bench: Areola, Randolph, Scamacca, Lanzini, Downes, Cornet, Ogbonna, Coventry, Ashby.
Gerrard was keen to stress how victory against League One’s Bolton “put themselves in the best possible place for West Ham”. However, Villa are unquestionably in a slump which has bled across an active summer transfer window.
Chopping and changing between formations, Villa have won just three of their last 14 Premier League games. West Ham, incidentally, boast the same underwhelming return.
In a meeting between two sides that are struggling, the pair may eke out a draw that fails to bust either rut.
Prediction: Aston Villa 0-0 West Ham
