ASTON VILLA
Premier League, Villa Park, Sunday 28 August 2022, 2pm BST
West Ham United have enjoyed trips to Villa Park in recent years and head to Aston unbeaten in their last four Premier League visits.
Draws in May 2015 and September 2019 were followed by a Jesse Lingard-inspired 3-1 win on the Manchester United loanee’s debut in February, and an even more emphatic 4-1 victory in October last year.
Ben Johnson, Declan Rice, Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen were all on target that evening and all four will hope to find the net again this time around.
Aston Villa finished 14th last season and will hope to improve on that showing under manager Steven Gerrard, who has appointed a new captain in Scotland midfielder John McGinn.
Gerrard has added Brazil defender Diego Carlos and French midfielder Boubacar Kamara, while also completing the permanent signing of Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona.
Villa have kicked-off the current campaign with defeats at AFC Bournemouth and Crystal Palace either side of a home win over Everton. They also won 4-1 at EFL League One side Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup second round on Tuesday evening.
Tickets...
The first 90% of tickets sold out to Bondholders and Season Ticket Holders with 24 or more Points. The remaining 10% (296 tickets) were then made available via a ballot to Season Ticket Holders who had yet to purchase for this fixture. The ballot will closed at 12pm on Friday 5 August.
A limited number of Accessibility Tickets are still available. Full prices can be found here. Please call our Ticket Office team on 0333 030 0174 or email [email protected]. Personal Assistants are issued free of charge.
How to get there…
The address for your sat nav is Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham, B6 6HE. However, there is next to no parking available and a traffic exclusion zone is imposed around the stadium on matchdays from two hours prior to kick-off until 30-60 minutes after the final whistle.
Official parking is available at Aston Social Club in Aston Hall Road (postcode B6 7JU) and Powerleague Birmingham in Lichfield Road (postcode B6 7TG).
Any disabled supporters should contact our Disabled Liaison Officer on 0333 323 1874 for information on disabled parking. Parking needs to be booked in advance of the match.
For those travelling by train, the nearest stations are Witton and Aston, both of which are on lines from Birmingham New Street. Trains from London Euston to New Street leave at 07.50, 08.23, 08.49, 09.46 and 10.49.After the game, direct services leave New Street at 16.30, 16.53, 17.10, 17.30 and 17.53.
Where to stay…
If you want to make a Saturday night of it in Birmingham, you are best off staying in the city centre, where you will have the full choice of accommodation, food, drink and entertainment options.
If you fancy somewhere a bit different, the Convention Quarter contains Brindley Place, a vibrant area full of shops, hotels, bars, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs, or why not try Digbeth, which has been transformed from Birmingham’s industrial heartland into a distinctive, trendy and creative area full of independent traders.
What to do…
Birmingham has something for everyone, as you expect from the country’s second largest city.
Away from the pubs, bars, restaurants and nightclubs, perhaps you fancy spending your Saturday at the New Irish Centre in King’s Heath, where the Pairc Festival will be celebrating the music and culture of Ireland all weekend!
Elsewhere, the Birmingham Back to Backs are a National Trust run court of back-to-back house that were home to working-class residents in the 19th century, while the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull charts the history of British motorcycles.
What’s happened there before…
As mentioned in the introduction, West Ham United are unbeaten in their four most recent visits to Villa Park.
Prior to that, we also won 2-0 there in the Premier League in February 2014, when current first-team coach Kevin Nolan eased the Irons’ relegation fears with a double strike.
Our best-ever result at Villa Park was a 5-1 First Division victory scored in April 1927, when Vic Watson (two), Stan Earle, Joseph Johnson and Jimmy Ruffell shared the visitors’ goals.
Overall, our biggest top-flight win over Villa came in August 1958, when Ted Fenton’s newly promoted Hammers thrashed their opponents 7-2 in the First Division at the Boleyn Ground, where Vic Keeble, John Dick and Malcolm Musgrove each scored twice.
