West Ham United v Aston Villa
Premier League, London Stadium, Sunday 12 March 2023, 2pm GMT
West Ham United return to home turf for just the fourth time in 2023 when Aston Villa visit London Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers are unbeaten at home this calendar year, having taken seven points from Premier League wins over Everton and Nottingham Forest and a draw with Chelsea.
However, cup draws have seen the Irons play nine away games since the turn of the year, including the last three - an FA Cup fifth-round defeat at Manchester United, Premier League loss at Brighton & Hove Albion and UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 first-leg win at AEK Larnaca.
That victory came in Cyprus on Thursday evening, before David Moyes' squad flew back to London on Friday morning to continue preparations for Sunday's game.
The Irons can complete their first Premier League double of 2022/23 and score a sixth consecutive win over Aston Villa with victory on Sunday.
Tickets...
Tickets for this sold out game are available on the Ticket Exchange, with Season Ticket Holders who cannot attend this fixture relisting their seats for other supporters to buy. Click here to check availability or relist.
Travel...
As is now the norm, supporters will have some fun and games getting to and from London Stadium on public transport this Satuday.
Greater Anglia services will yet again be suspended, this time between London Liverpool Street and Witham, due to engineering work.
Norwich, Ipswich, Clacton and Colchester Town mainline services will turn around at Witham all weekend, from where buses will replace trains between Witham and Newbury Park, where fans can pick up the London Underground Central line to Stratford.
Buses will also replace trains between Southend Victoria-Newbury Park and between Southminster-Wickford. Braintree branch line services will terminate/start from Witham.
c2c services are also affected this weekend.
Due to engineering works between Liverpool Street and Barking, services will be diverted to Fenchurch Street and will call additionally at West Ham but will not call at Stratford. Supporters should alight at West Ham and catch the Jubilee line to Stratford.
Due to overhead line renewal between Barking and Grays, services between those stations will not run. Rail replacement buses will run between Upminster and Grays via Rainham and Purfleet, while passengers can also use tickets on TfL bus routes EL2 or 287.
On the Elizabeth line, there will be no service between Stratford and Shenfield. Replacement buses will operate between Stratford-Newbury Park and Romford-Shenfield.
On the London Overground, there will be no service between Romford-Upminster. Fans should use local London Buses.
Thankfully, southeastern railway services will run as scheduled, with no planned engineering works.
Click here to plan your journey on the Transport for London network, or here for National Rail services.
How to Follow...
Saturday's game will not be broadcast live on television in the UK, but will be shown across the world by the Premier League's international broadcast partners.
You can listen to commentary in the UK on BBC Radio London 94.9FM and worldwide on whufc.com and our official app.
You can also follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle.
Official Programme…
West Ham United's 116-page Official Programme for Saturday's Premier League fixture is available to order online now for just £4, plus £1.49 postage and packaging*.
Copies will be sent via first-class post. Full-season subscriptions are also available, including all Premier League, FA Cup and EFL Cup home issues, from just £119, from the Club's official West Ham Programmes shop.
Team News...
West Ham United have concerns over Michail Antonio (calf), Flynn Downes (ankle) and Paquetá (calf) after all three were hurt in Thursday's UECL win at AEK Larnaca.
Łukasz Fabiański is recovering from a fractured eye socket, and Vladimír Coufal has a plantar fascia issue in his heel.
Aston Villa will be without Philippe Coutinho (thigh) and Boubacar Kamara (foot), but are hoping Diego Carlos (lower leg) and Leander Dendoncker (personal reasons) could be available.
Opposition...
It looks to be the start of a new chapter for Aston Villa under Unai Emery, who has quickly made his mark in the West Midlands.
When the serial UEFA Europa League-winning coach made the switch from La Liga outfit Villarreal in October, his task was to take his new side back into European competitions. His aim to return Villa to the heights of a 1982 European Cup-winning outfit and a club that boasts seven First Division titles in their historically impressive trophy cabinet.
And while a long-term goal, Emery’s early record suggests the feat is not completely out of the question in the future. Yes, there is plenty of work ahead, but the early signs give cause to be optimistic for fans of the seven-time FA Cup winners.
As such, the change in B6 has been impressive. When Steve Gerrard’s tenure ended with a tepid 3-0 defeat by Fulham in October, Villa hovered one place above the relegation zone. They looked out of ideas. Limp. And with a Premier League status under threat.
A few months later, it has been all change. Villa have surged up the table under their new boss, and, at the time of writing, the club sit eleventh – with one eye on a top-seven finish. The goal for the Villans is to keep pushing into the top half and see where a few more wins could take them. A top-seven finish is ambitious, but possible.
Impressively, there has not been too much change in personnel. Only full-back Álex Moreno and forward Jhon Durán arrived in the January window. Much of the core playing squad of the Gerrard era still start under Emery. The change in approach rather than players has brought success then, an aggressive 4-2-2-2 reaping the rewards.
Perhaps there is more belief in this system. The key to the upturn in form has been goals, something Villa struggled with under Emery’s predecessor. The club has netted two or more goals in league matches on seven occasions under the Spaniard.
Ollie Watkins, meanwhile, has netted seven goals. To make things even more impressive, since Emery's debut – a 3-1 win over Manchester United in November, Villa have won seven out of 12 league games under their new boss – the latest a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace last weekend.
They have been hard to beat too. Without fixtures against the current top two, Arsenal and Manchester City, taken into consideration, they have lost twice – to Liverpool and Leicester City. The latter, a 4-2 defeat, is the biggest blip in what has been a solid start to life in the Midlands by the talented Spaniard.
A lot has changed then since West Ham United took three points from Villa Park in August last year. The Irons’ only away win in the 2022/23 Premier League arrived after Pablo Fornals’ late and deflected winner but came against a Villa side playing as a shadow of the ones who head to east London, eight months later.
And so, David Moyes’ men will have to be at their best should they record a third straight league double over the visitors. The Hammers aim to stretch an already impressive unbeaten run over the Villans to ten league matches, while Villa seek their first win in east London since April 2011 – and a first-ever victory at London Stadium too.
Previous Meetings...
David Moyes’ men will be buoyed by their recent record against Aston Villa, as the Hammers have won the last five matches and have not fallen to defeat to Villa since May 2015 – our only loss in the last 13 meetings.
West Ham have won the last five Premier League matches against Villa by an aggregate score line of 12-4.
Pablo Fornals' deflected shot secured our first top-flight win of the current campaign at Villa Park back in August - the third straight game against Sunday's visitors that the Spaniard has scored in.
Aston Villa have been beaten 2-1 in each of their two most-recent visits to London Stadium and have never won in three trips to E20.
Match Officials...
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Assistant Referees: James Mainwaring & Wade Smith
Fourth Official: Darren England
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger
Chris Kavanagh takes charge of a West Ham United fixture for the 19th time on Sunday.
A member of the Manchester Football Association, Kavanagh is in his sixth season as a Select Group referee.
Born in Manchester in 1985, Kavanagh was 13 when he began his refereeing career, moving up through the non-league pyramid to the National League in 2012, aged 27.
Kavanagh was promoted to the Football League in 2014 before refereeing his first Premier League fixture between West Bromwich Albion and Southampton in April 2017.
In all, Kavanagh has refereed over 300 senior matches, including 112 Premier League games, the 2021 EFL Championship Play-Off final, European club matches and internationals.
Kavanagh’s first West Ham appointment was the FA Cup fourth-round defeat at Wigan Athletic in January 2018. He refereed the Irons' 4-1 win at Aston Villa in October 2021.
