Aston Villa vs West Ham prediction: Ollie Watkins to down Hammers | OneFootball

Aston Villa vs West Ham tips

Aston Villa are back in Premier League action on Sunday when they welcome West Ham to Villa Park again, looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s defeat away at Monaco (4:30pm, live on Sky Sports Main Event).

Despite the Champions League defeat, they are still well-placed to progress either straight to the last 16 or into a two-leg play-off ahead of their final league stage match against Celtic next week.

Last time out in the Premier League they came from 2-0 to put a huge dent in Arsenal’s title chances and that point leaves them eighth in the table just two points behind Manchester City in fifth.

West Ham on the other hand are 14th and 10 points behind Sunday’s opponents, although new boss Graham Potter will be hoping his side can quickly move up that table.

The two sides met in a repeat of this game in the FA Cup third round, just a day after Potter was appointed and it was the home side who came out top with goals from Amadou Onana and Morgan Rogers bettering Lucas Paqueta’s early strike.

West Ham then beat Fulham 3-2 in Potter’s first full game in charge before losing 2-0 to Crystal Palace at home, last time out. Konstantinos Mavropanos didn’t help his teammates when he was sent off with the score at 1-0 and will miss the trip to Villa Park.

It’s no surprise to see West Ham being linked with players left, right and centre with just over a week of the transfer window left and they have been strongly linked with Villa striker Jhon Duran.

Villa have rejected a second bid for the 21-year-old, who signed a new contract in October keeping him at Villa Park until 2030. The timing of the bids hasn’t gone down too well either, ahead of an important Champions League tie and ahead of a meeting between the two sides.

The best way for the club to get revenge is to play the striker and see him back on the scoresheet and football betting sites are offering 11/2 on him scoring first or 15/8 on him scoring anytime.

This will be the third meeting between the two sides this season and both have finished in 2-1 wins to Villa. In the league match back on the opening day of the season Onana and Paqueta were both on target again before Duran came off the bench to score the first of his 12 goals so far this season.

Both teams have scored in all but one of their last 11 meetings and there hasn’t been a 0-0 since September 2019, so it’s fair to say we expect goals, and you can get 8/1 on another 2-1 win to the home side.

Villa have scored 33 and conceded 34 in the league, while the Hammers have scored 27 and conceded 43 and we’re expecting another tough afternoon for their defence.

Ollie Watkins has scored in three of his last four Premier League matches, including the equaliser against Arsenal last weekend, just as he was about to be replaced by Duran.

He has just 10 goals from his 30 appearances so far compared to 15 at this stage last season so he would love to add more to his tally, starting on Sunday.

He has also been the provider for seven more goals so far this season and betting sites are offering 8/13 on him being involved in a goal on Sunday. His last two goals have been the last goals of the game, and you can get 7/2 on him scoring last this time out.

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