Aston Villa’s Halloween horror show against West Ham United piles more pressure onto Dean Smith

A dominant West Ham came away from Villa Park with plenty of positives, including goals from both ends of the pitch which saw the Hammers strengthen their top-four bid.

Declan Rice was the star of the evening as his goal contributions saw the London outfit lead at the half-time interval.

The England international lofted a beautiful pass to the feet of West Ham right-back Ryan Johnson who cut in from the right and curled his shot through a crowd of bodies, beating the outstretched Emi Martinez, which put the visitors in the lead after just eight minutes.

Villa were able to equalise in the 34th minute after Emi Buendia’s low ball found Ollie Watkins, who was left in acres by Kurt Zouma, as he tapped the ball past Lukasz Fabianski from eight yards.

Just four minutes later, West Ham reclaimed the lead through Rice whose shot from 25 yards snuck past Martinez. The Hammers made a good habit of tucking their shots into the bottom-right corner as they deservedly led 2-1 at half-time.

Shortly into the second half, Ezri Konsa was dismissed after he bought down Jarrod Bowen on the edge of the penalty box. Referee Chris Kavanagh originally gave the Villa defender a yellow card, but after a VAR check, the 36-year-old branded out the red card which saw the hosts go down to 10 men.

Kortney Hause was lucky to escape without caution after he elbowed Pablo Fornals just seconds before Konsa’s red card offence.

It was the Spaniard who netted West Ham’s third of the afternoon in the 80th minute after David Moyes’ men launched a deadly counter-attack that tore Villa apart.

The move was started by Rice’s clearance which was flicked on by Michael Antonio before Bowen drove the ball forward. The 24-year-old’s cross-goal shot was saved by Martinez but Fornals was there to fire in the follow-up.

To add salt into Villa’s wounds, Bowen was amongst the action again as he clinched West Ham’s fourth. Antonio threaded a ball to Manuel Lanzini who saw Bowen wide open. The unselfish Argentinian tapped the ball across the six-yard box as Bowen slid to convert.

West Ham would be disappointed they didn’t net more chances. A series of brave blocks from Matty Cash denied the Hammers in the first half as well as Rice’s 20-yard free-kick which was superbly saved by Martinez mid-way through the second half.

As for Villa, Sunday’s Halloween horror show made it four consecutive defeats as they remain 15th in the Premier League with pressure continuing to build on boss Smith’s shoulders.

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