VILLA ARE SPOOKED
Rice trick and treats make it Smith nightmare
ASTON VILLA fans endured a Halloween Hammer House of Horrors as in-form West Ham romped away with the points.
David Moyes’ fourth-placed side moved level on points with Manchester City as skipper Declan Rice provided the odd trick and a couple of real treats.
Dean Smith’s Villa were booed off after a fourth successive league defeat and can have no complaints, although referee Chris Kavanagh certainly did them no favours.
He sent off Ezri Konsa early in the second half and then appeared to treat a couple of West Ham players leniently when it all flared up near the end.
Hammers manager Moyes has every reason to be delighted with his squad and said: “I want to drive the players on but they need to drive themselves on as well.
“The players are doing a remarkable job and we desperately want that to continue.”
Villa did not give up when trailing 2-1 with 10 men but they eventually succumbed to late goals from Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen.
New boy Leon Bailey, a friend of Usain Bolt’s, made his first start for Villa but the Hammers were quick out of the blocks thanks to the aptly named Ben Johnson, the academy product shooting the visitors into the lead after seven minutes following a Rice lay-off.
Villa levelled when Emi Buendia wriggled past Fornals and fed Ollie Watkins, who made no mistake with a first-time effort after 34 minutes. West Ham, though, were back in front when England midfielder Rice demanded the ball off Said Benrahma and slammed a low shot in off the post beyond Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, who was clearly suggesting his view had been blocked.
Things got worse for the home side five minutes into the second half when VAR sent Kavanagh to the monitor.
He then changed his initial decision and sent Konsa off for denying Bowen a goal chance with a clumsy challenge.
Ten-man Villa rallied and Watkins could hardly believe it when Lukasz Fabianski finger-tipped his powerful header on to the bar to deny him another equaliser.
The Hammers then powered away with two goals in the last 10 minutes.
First, Fornals cashed in after Bowen’s shot was saved, and Bowen banged the final nail in the coffin with an angled shot at the far post.
Villa manager Smith was not happy with Konsa’s second-half dismissal, saying: “I have to question the officiating – I didn’t think it was a red card.
“Is he clean through on goal? The negative is the scoreline but there were positives.”
ASTON VILLA (4-3-3): Martinez 7; Cash 7, Konsa 5, Hause 6, Target 6; McGinn 6, Nakamba 6, Ramsey 5 (Young 15, 6); Buendia 6 (Mings 51, 6), Watkins 7, Bailey 5 (El Ghazi 71). Goal: Watkins 34. Sent off: Konsa 50.
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 7; Johnson 6, Zouma 7, Ogbonna 7, Cresswell 6; Soucek 6, Rice 8; Bowen 8 (Vlasic 90), Benrahma 6 (Lanzini 64, 6), Fornals 8 (Coufal 90); Antonio 6. Goals: Johnson 7, Rice 38, Fornals 80, Bowen 84.