VILLANS LOSE THEIR HEADS
Team-mates clash before Masuaku sees red
WEST HAM missed out on going third in the table but the big talking point was a bust-up between two Aston Villa players.
Anwar El Ghazi was at the centre of a crazy ‘headbutt’ on team-mate Tyrone Mings before half-time.
The Hammers went into the game knowing a third successive win would shoot them above fourth-placed Tottenham and make them the capital’s top club.
But they could not manage it and, when they went down to 10 men with 23 minutes left after Arthur Masuaku was sent off, they probably went home happy with a point.
And the fact they did was largely down to goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who kept the home side at bay with a string of fine stops. That plus Jack Grealish totally misjudging a close-range shot with minutes to go.
West Ham lost Masuaku following a second bookable offence but that incident was almost eclipsed by a bizarre 36th-minute incident in which El Ghazi and Mings went head-tohead after a disagreement.
Masuaku was unfortunate to go for a second yellow when sub Ahmed Elmohamady went down easily under his challenge.
El Ghazi, though, was lucky to stay on after his brush with his team-mate. Mings appeared to be shouting at the Dutchman when El Ghazi moved his head towards the face of the big central defender.
Referee Mike Dean was clearly getting instruction that something had happened but play went on and the verdict had to have been that it was not serious enough to warrant further action.
But it certainly was not what footballers like to call ‘handbags’ and Mings had good reason to look displeased by El Ghazi’s over-the-top reaction.
England manager Gareth Southgate looked on from the stands, taking the opportunity to run the rule over West Ham’s Declan Rice and Villa trio Tom Heaton, Jack Grealish and Mings.
West Ham threatened first when Andriy Yarmolenko looked set to score until Bjorn Engels got in a great block.
And they came close to taking the lead when Sebastien Haller powered a header just wide. But it was West Ham goalkeeper Fabianski who was the man in the thick of things. First he did something that must have flashed through Mings’ mind – he flattened El Ghazi while contesting a high ball.
Fabianski won the ball but left the Villa man needing treatment after being smashed to the ground a split-second later. The Hammers keeper then produced a superb diving onehanded save to deny John McGinn.
Earlier, Fabianski came to the rescue when he scrambled down to his left-hand post to keep out a Wesley header.
Wesley had given the goalkeeper a warning shot in the 14th minute when he met Grealish’s pinpoint cross with power but his header ended up going wide.
Shortly after the break Villa went close again when McGinn scraped the post. Then, Fabianski was called into action again to smother aWesley shot.