A late turnaround saw Aston Villa defeat West Ham 2-1 at Villa Park, seeing them progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Lucas Paquetá gave the visitors an early lead after slotting home past a helpless Robin Olsen on nine minutes, that the beginning of a first half in which Aston Villa played insipid, meandering football.
They turned things around in the second, though, but not without controversy. Amadou Onana’s equaliser came at the end of a corner which never should have been, but once they drew level, they never looked back. Morgan Rogers sealed the deal five minutes later, seeing The Villains progress at the expense of an exasperated West Ham.
As it happened
This is far from Aston Villa’s favourite competition. Since losing the FA Cup final in 2015, they’d managed only two wins in the competition. West Ham hadn’t faired too much better, though; last season’s competition came to an abrupt ending away at Bristol City. But this time, they had an ace up their sleeve by way of Graham Potter, the former Chelsea boss taking charge of his first game in in 648 days. He would’ve dreamt of a fast start – and that’s exactly what he got.
Only nine minutes in, West Ham found themselves with the first chance of the game. Mohammed Kudus released Crysencio Summerville down the right-hand side before he checked back and played the ball to the edge of the area where Paquetá was waiting. The Brazilian didn’t need more than a touch to steer it home into Olsen’s bottom right corner, the Swede between the sticks left rooted to the spot. The perfect beginning to West Ham’s new manager’s tenure.
Embed from Getty ImagesAston Villa needed to respond. They needed to work the ball quickly, hit one of the Premier League’s shakiest defences and get themselves back on top. But they didn’t.
Instead, they spent the first half passing the ball for passing’s sake. Their forwards were immobile, their midfield stifled by The Hammers’ pivot of Tomáš Souček and Edson Álvarez. In the freezing Black Country air, the hosts looked as if they hadn’t differentiated between the warmup and the beginning of the game. Much in contrast to the weather, they were tepid.
The visitors couldn’t really take full advantage, though. While Villa managed a grand total of zero first half shots, West Ham couldn’t convert any of their further four to double their advantage. In fact, perhaps the closest they came was when Kudus took aim from distance in the 34th minute, that shot comfortably saved by Olsen.
It was, for neutrals and Villains alike, a first half to forget. The second was a different story.
This time, it was West Ham’s turn to lack creativity. They had their lead, yes, but they seldom if ever looked like extending it – and Villa took full advantage.
Their first shots came from Ian Maatsen and Rogers, the Dutchman first hitting a volley off his shin closer to the corner flag than Łukasz Fabiański’s near post, before Rogers fired well over the bar from just outside the area. But this was progress; in nine second half minutes, they’d threatened more than in the previous 45 altogether.
West Ham remained disciplined, but the difference was the hosts were now camped around their penalty area. They huffed and puffed – it wasn’t going to be long before they blew the house down. When they did, it was shrouded in controversy.
It was a little more than contentious. Onana had hit a strike which flew wide – but despite no defensive touch, a corner was awarded. When that set piece was delivered, no one properly dealt with it. The ball bundled around the penalty area, culminating in a Maatsen shot saved then spilled by Fabiański. To his dismay, the ball fell right into the path of Onana to stab home the equaliser.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe man who won the corner that never was had scored the goal that changed everything. Finally level, they’d shortly go one better.
Five minutes after that equaliser, Aston Villa completed their comeback. It was a slick move, Ollie Watkins released down the channel before playing the ball into the corridor of uncertainty. There, waiting in the six-yard box, was Rogers, and there was nothing uncertain about his finish, as he stabbed a shot home past a helpless Fabiański.
After a first half devoid of a shot let alone a chance, Aston Villa were in front, fifteen minutes away from a third FA Cup win in a decade.
Embed from Getty ImagesThey should have scored again, too. On 79 minutes, substitute Jacob Ramsey crashed a strike off the post. Three goals really would have flattered them, but come the end, they had to settle for two and a shaky win.
West Ham left it late to try and find a leveller of their own; Danny Ings would try his luck twice, a volley first blocked by Rogers and then, with his side’s final breath of life, a strike blazed over the bar. They were beaten and aggrieved.
There were positives for The Hammers. On the back of one training session, Graham Potter’s side looked instantly superior to Julen Lopetegui’s. But a decent performance isn’t enough to yield a result without goals, and they just weren’t clinical enough.
As for Aston Villa, they can consider themselves lucky. The circumstances which led up to their equaliser were more than fortuitous, but when given luck and chances, they grabbed hold of them and didn’t let go. The result? A rare spot in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The lineups
AVI: Olsen; Maatsen, Mings, Konsa, Cash; Tielemans, Kamara; Rogers, Barkley, Bailey; Watkins
WHU: Fabianski; Scarles, Kilman, Mavropanos, Wan-Bissaka; Álvarez, Souček; Summerville, Paquetá, Kudus; Füllkrug
FEATURED IMAGE: Rob Atherton