West Ham 0 Aston Villa 0
Aston Villa's Nathan Baker tackles Diafra Sakho of West Ham United in the Premier League at Upton Park. Seasoned West Ham supporters had seen this coming. The London club were riding the crest of a wave, playing slick football and inspiring talk of Europe. Before the kick-off, there had been the announcement of manager and player of the month awards for Sam Allardyce and Diafra Sakho. And Aston Villa were on their worst run of form since 1967. So the subsequent stalemate had actually been inevitable.
There was so nearly a fairy-tale twist. Flung on as an injury-time substitute for his first football of the season, after ankle ligament damage, Andy Carroll’s first touch was to meet Stewart Downing’s cross with a thumping header which drew the save of the game from Brad Guzan. Carroll had another, even later header, that was repelled by the Aston Villa goalkeeper.
Yet it was otherwise pretty forgettable fare. West Ham started and finished well but it was the bit in the middle that was the problem while Villa set up for the draw and just about got it. After the gloom of six consecutive Premier League losses, they have at least managed to stop the rot.
West Ham fans know not to take anything for granted and Sam Allardyce’s pre-match warning about the dangers of complacency might have drawn smiles. Nonetheless, there was confidence about West Ham at the outset and a balance about the diamond formation that was geared to harness the threat of Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho, who was back in the team after a shoulder problem. There was also the tonic of seeing Andy Carroll back among the substitutes after serious injury.
The pattern was established early on; West Ham pressing onto the front foot and Villa looking to punch on the counter-attack. West Ham’s full-backs pushed high and, with Alex Song prominent in midfield, the home team enjoyed some nice patches of possession. They struggled to make serious in-roads during the first-half, though, and it became a rather sleepy contest before the interval.
Stewart Downing, the former Villa midfielder, who was booed by the travelling fans had West Ham’s best first-half moments. His fierce shot on 22 minutes after good work by Sakho stung Brad Guzan’s palms while he sliced another effort wide when well-placed. James Collins thudded a header at Guzan from Downing’s corner and Mark Noble had a shot blocked by Ron Vlaar. Guzan also came for and missed a high ball and he was fortunate that Sakho’s header was off-target.
The Villa manager, Paul Lambert, had refused to panic during the week, in the wake of the sixth consecutive defeat at home to Tottenham. He pointed out how five of the losses had come against opponents who had finished in last season’s top six. The bigger picture, he said, was that the situation was not as bad as people thought.
Still, the win at Liverpool on 13 September had seemed like an awfully long time ago and the imperative to fashion any kind of foot-hold was clear. What Villa fans would have given beforehand for even a goal. They had arrived in east London with only five all season.
It might have come in the first-half. After a loose pass by Mark Noble, Gabriel Agbonlahor skated past Collins to open up a chance before shooting wildly while Andreas Weimann jinked and belted straight at Adrian following a burst from Charles N’Zogbia.
The game cried out for a dominant performer, somebody to bend it to his will but it meandered. As the rain tumbled down, the home crowd grew angry with the referee, Jonathan Moss, over perceived lapses. There was a plenty of commitment; good, honest running but a depressing lack of quality.
West Ham stirred towards the end. Sakho headed wide when unmarked on 78 minutes from the substitute Carlton Cole’s cross while, after Villa had lost Nathan Baker to a worrying-looking injury, Carl Jenkinson could not generate any power on his header from Downing’s cross. Carroll almost nicked it but Villa finally have their result.
