Jhon Duran winner punishes West Ham after summer flirtation with the striker

It could have been anyone’s game in the second half but Villa took their chance and were rewarded for their brilliance for 40 first-half minutes.

Big chance for the equaliser when Soucek goes up to head at the far post to meet Kudus’ right-wing cross. He heads it back across the keeper but Konsa, on the line, blocks with his chest and then the Czech midfielder spoons the rebound over. 

Philogene is picked out by Maatsen at the far post after the flying left-back had bombed down the right. Philogene goes for the shot but skews it.  

Nedeljkovoic just holds off Summerville at the price of a corner. Ward-Prowse whips it menacingly and Martinez comes out to punch and falls down, claiming a free-kick that was not forthcoming as he bumped into Maatsen not a West Ham player.   

Duran pretends to be hurt after hitting the deck from backing into the granite of Kilman. 

Seven minutes of stoppage time start with a booking for Philogene for tripping Summerville. West Ham pour forward for the free-kick but Villa see it off. 

Deep Kudus cross from the right goes beyond Summerville and Philogene tries to hook it upfield but ends up slicing it back towards goal. Martinez drops on to it and takes his time getting up. 

Ings really should have scored with his first touch after Summerville skipped down the left, turned Nedeljkovic, turned him again and stood up a cross for the centre-forward six yards out which he knocked down the keeper’s throat. 

More West Ham changes. 

Ings ⇢ Coufal
Todibo ⇢  Rodriguez

Duran almost apologises to the Villa fans in his celebration. Maatsen starts a swarming Villa move that Kilman boldly stops when outnumbered but Maatsen was offside when he made the break. 

Nedeljkovic ⇢ Cash. 

West Ham 1 Aston Villa 2 (Duran)  The man who was photographed crossing his arms to make the hammers sign in the summer when linked to West Ham, sweeps in a left-foot shot after a clever tap from Maatsen is helped on to the centre-forward by Ramsey. 

Philogene outmuscles Summerville who was trying to counter up the left. 

Ward-Prowse looks for Soucek at the back post but Villa defend the corner well and Maatsen tries to ignite a counter but just gets the pass wrong by inches. 

Summerville and Emerson dribble down the left in tandem before the former Leeds winger cuts infield to set Mavropanos up for a shot that leads to a corner. 

Villa should have been out of sight in the first half but it’s anybody’s game. Now with the substitutions we may see if this is a new West Ham or if the spirit of David Moyes is still in charge.

Soucek is given the armband but Villa send on two subs before the game can restart:

Maatsen ⇢ Bailey
Philogene ⇢ Digne

Triple West Ham substitution after a delay for a Villa corner from Bailey’s blocked shot. The ref asks for the corner to be taken a second time while he sorts out some wrestling. Areola punches the cross away and a foul stops the game for a Villa free-kick in their half. 

Fullkrug ⇢ Bowen
Summerville ⇢ Antonio
Ward-Prowse ⇢ Paqueta. 

Bowen and Coufal combine to block Digne’s two efforts at getting a cross into the box from the left. 

Duran flashes a left-foot shot into the side netting after a cute Digne pass plays him in down the left of the box. He bent his run astutely to stay onside but couldn’t get enough whip on the shot to trouble Areola. 

Clean header for Antonio but he makes a mess of it at the back post after losing Cash. Coufal’s cross was a good one …

Duran ⇢ Watkins
Ramsey ⇢ McGinn. 

West Ham have been the better side all half and Kudus, the livewire, has been the driving force of that.

Villa are waiting to make two changes but the ball stays in play and Kudus rolls Cash again then the Villa defenders back off, as if inviting a shot. He obliges with his left but thumps it wide. 

Villa again spurn a golden chance when Rogers dribbles 40 yards and slips Bailey down the right. Bailey does a couple of tricks, spins back and lays the all off to Rogers who knocks it back to Tielemans 18 yards out. Tielemans shoots, going for precision and Mavropnaos blocks it but the rebound sits up invitingly for Rogers who attacks the shot from eight yards with no real gusto or conviction and Mavropanos again manages to see it off. 

Kudus rolls Cash as he collects a long ball but the Poland right-back fights back to make the tackle to knock the ball behind for a corner before Kudus could cross. 

Rogers and Bailey have been clipped in the tackle and take some time to run off the pain. But the referee deemed both fair. 

Kudus is a joy to watch as a player. Much like Georginio Rutter will be at Brighton. Bowen picks him out on the left but this cross is cut out by Onana who heads it to Martinez not without a minor alarm. 

Rabona cross from Kudus to the back post from the left after his first cross was blocked straight back to him. Soucek takes it down on his chest to set up a goalbound half-volley from six yards that Digne blocks with a starfish jump. 

Play stops after Paqueta and Bailey come together, Paqueta treading on his foot after Bailey had played the ball. Eventually he is hauled to his feet by Rogers and play restarts with a bounce-up. 

West Ham ride their luck to go in level after being played off the park by Aston Villa for about 40 minutes. The Hammers looked timid at times but the goal has given them a fillip. Villa’s dominance stemmed from Tielemans’ passing and the runs of Bailey, Watkins and Rogers to bamboozle the Hammers’ defence. 

Bowen chases a lost cause to keep in an overhit Antonio pass down the right but there was no one there to exploit his tenacity when he turned it back into the box. His team-mates, like Konsa, assumed the ball was heading out for a goalkick. 

West Ham have had their confidence restored by the goal but Bailey tries to turn the tide back with a direct run after Konsa had defended Coufal’s cross. He gallops up the right and cuts in on his left to shoot miles wide. He was hoping to bend the ball back in but it stayed on its straight course. 

Emerson runs down the left, cuts in and starts to tack across field before playing a one-two with Paqueta that sends him into the box from the right, behind Digne. His right foot is his swinger but he gives it a go and Martinez stands firm at the near post to push it behind for a corner whuch he catches. 

The VAR apparently said that though Cash did touch the ball before stumbling and tangling his legs round Soucek’s, it wasn’t a genuine attempt to play the ball. “I’m not buying that,” says Sky’s Alan Smith. 

West Ham 1 Aston Villa 1 (Paqueta, pen)  Brazil gulls Argentina. Paqueta walks up, waits for Martinez to show himself and then steers it into the left of goal with the keeper gone the other way. 

For Cash’s challenge on Soucek after the Czech midfielder chested down Paqueta’s lofted diagonal. It looks as if he toed the ball away before falling into Soucek but the VAR sticks with the onfield referee.

Villa break after some decent West Ham probing breaks down and it’s Rogers who brings it forward, holding Coufal off to find McGinn to the left of the box. His first shot is blocked but the rebound sits up nicely for him and he tries to feed it in at the right post with his instep, more of a pass than a shot. But he sticks it the wrong side of the post. 

Villa should be 3-0 up here. 

Martinez comes out to claim the corner. 

Excellent defensive header from Digne at the back stick after Kudus, using Emerson as a decoy, had stood up a cross for Soucek. Usually a beast in the air, Soucek had times his run perfectly and seemed to soar but Digne stood his ground to head it behind for a corner. 

Tielemans and Onana are seeing plenty of ball and seem to have as much time as they like to sweep passes around. Onana just put his foot on the ball to weigh up his options, provoking howls of protest from the home fans. 

Lopetegui is agitated and kicking every ball. Amid the low hum from the crowd you can hear him shouting instructions. Barking them out. 

Onana is booed when he gets up after being awarded a free-kick. Antonioo had upended him as they fought for a header and he landed heavily. 

Bailey hits the post after rounding Areola. Simple long 60-yard ball over the top and Bailey bombed past Emerson. Areola was the last man and raced out to dive at his feet but Bailey knocked it past on the outside and, with Kilman scrambling back, skims his shot on to the outside of the right post. 

As Villa continue to zip the ball about, West Ham’s defenders keep taking a backward step as if afraid of trying to intervene on the front foot. 

Nice pass from Paqueta, scooped over the top from the inside-right position for Bowen who takes it on his chest but is tackled when the ball hits the floor. 

Emerson steams into Bailey from behind and Villa take the free-kick quickly, sliding the pass down the right of the box for Watkins who dribbles towards the six-yard box but Areola closes the gap quickly and dives on top of the ball before Watkins can dink it. 

Villa have so many forward runners when they have the ball in midfield and at the back that West Ham can;t work out which ones to pick up. 

Now West Ham let Torres bring it out from the back like Beckenbauer, cruising forward for 40 yards to join a siege of the home box. The crowd sounds spooked by how badly organised they are at the start. They look confused. 

West Ham are wide open and Kilman lets Rogers run straight at him without intervening. The former Boro forward keeps going then tacks to the left to shoot from 18 yards, too close to Areola. Hot knife through butter. 

West Ham free kick on the left after a Bailey foul. Onana defends the cross and Villa, in white shirts and light blue socks and shorts, build from the back calmly. 

About 45 seconds before Villa opened the scoring  Soucek had made one of those runs down the inside-right channel to meet a Coufal cross but his ‘fantastic arrive©’ was unrewarded by his finish. 

© Ron Atkinson 1989

West Ham 0 Aston Villa 1 (Onana)  Blimey. Dozy marking from Antonio at a corner. He is next to Onana by the penalty spot and is shaken off with ease before the new signing from Everton sprints into the six-yard box to bury the header from Tielemans’ corner. 

Cash hurls the ball into the box, Mavropanos heads it back to the right and McGinn raises his leg to control it and Kudus kicks his raised leg as he challenged. There was definite contact and not with the ball. McGinn rolls around on the floor but the referee decides not to give a penalty.  

Unai Emery has opted for his three-quarter zip jumper on a glorious summer’s evening. The players take a knee as part of the ‘No room for racism’ campaign as Bubbles rings round the London Taxpayers’ Stadium. West Ham kick off and knock it long. Pau Torres wins the ball back and Villa earn a throw-in by the 18-yard line.  

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• Nottm Forest 1-1 Bournemouth

West Ham  Areola; Coufal, Kilman, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Rodriguez; Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Kudus, Antonio. 
Substitutes  Fabianski, Cresswell, Summerville, Ward-Prowse, Fullkrug, Ings, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Andrew Irving. 

Aston Villa  Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Bailey, Tielemans, Onana, Rogers; McGinn; Watkins.
Substitutes  Gauci, Diego Carlos, Barkley, Duran, Buendia, Philogene, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Ramsey. 

Referee Tony Harrington (Cleveland)

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Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of the claret and blue derby between West Ham, who finished ninth last season, and Aston Villa, who were fourth. It’s also a Basque-born derby, a meeting of former Sevilla managers. a reprise from 2022-23 when Julen Lopetegui was at Wolves and took only a point off Unai Emery in two games against the Villa. Both clubs have spent handsomely over the summer, West Ham spending, according to Transfermarkt, £126 million and Villa £150 million to overhaul teams to kick on, in Villa’s case, in their first Champions League campaign since they tried to defend the European Cup in 1982-83.

Villa have had to sacrifice Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby to broaden the squad by bringing in Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen, Jaden Philogene, Samuel Iling-Junior, Enzo Barrenchea and Ross Barkley while West Ham have offloaded Flynn Downes, Saif Benrahma and Thilo Kehrer and recruited two solid new centre-backs in Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman, a starting right-back in Aaron Wan-Bissaka with Niclas Füllkrug, Crysencio Summerville and Luis Guilhereme bolstering their forward options.

Villa, who lost on opening day last season in a deceptive 5-1 defeat at St James’ Park, have not beaten West Ham away for 13 years. Yer Actual drew away at Bournemouth in their first match of last season but won their first at home, beating Chelsea 3-1 and Lopetegui is thinking big but taking small steps. “Our target is; don’t put limits on our dreams,” he said. “After, we will see. Let’s see what is going to happen. Maybe you can ask me in three or four months and we are going to be clearer where we are.

“The most important thing is arriving in the last 10 matches in a good way. One league is a marathon. Each match is one kilometre. There are a lot. Now we have to put the focus on the first kilometre. Football is like this, step by step.”