OPINION
West Ham United go into Monday night’s game against Aston Villa looking to record their fourth consecutive victory in all competitions.
After losing 5-0 to Manchester City on the opening day and then following that with a 1-1 draw against Brighton and Hove Albion, Manuel Pellegrini’s men were left on a single point after two games.
Those disappointing results were followed by a 3-1 win away at Watford and a convincing 2-0 victory over Norwich City on an afternoon at the London Stadium which could have seen many more goals.
Pellegrini will be happy with his sides ability to bounce back, and will certainly be confident when travelling to Villa Park for the final game of the fifth Premier League round of fixtures.
Villa boss, Dean Smith, has guided his boyhood club to only the single victory so far on their return to the top-flight against Everton, and admitted to BBC’s Football Focus, as quoted by FourFourTwo before the game, that he won’t change his side’s system for the clash.
“It’s very easy in this league to go in and try not to lose,” Smith said.
“But I think there’s a big difference between trying to win and trying not to lose. My aim is to try and win.”
Smith’s comments before the clash could highlight how Villa are going to stick with their all-out attack based system, which is something which the Hammers could definitely take advantage of.
Defensively, Villa have seen opposition teams average 19.3 shots on goal every game this season according to WhoScored, which is nearly eight more than they average themselves.
Should West Ham be able to take advantage of the clear spaces in the final third that Villa allow opposition sides to have at times, players such as Sebastien Haller will be licking their lips at the potential of many opportunities.
It appears that Villa will not change their tactics going into the game on Monday, and West Ham could certainly take advantage of that in the Midlands.
