Emerson’s fine header earned West Ham a deserved 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in their Premier League clash at Villa Park.
New Hammers boss Graham Potter had previously lost eight of his games against Aston Villa in charge – including his first against West Ham in the FA Cup third round 16 days ago – and must have thought he was in another bad day when Jacob Ramsey (8) gave the hosts an early lead.
His first touch from Ollie Watkins’ pass looped the ball past Vladimir Coufal before he headed into the far corner as Villa dominated the opening 10 minutes.
Despite West Ham’s improvement in the first half – although they finished it without a shot on target – Villa should have scored again with Youri Tielemans and Watkins both shooting wide.
But the game turned for Villa when Tyrone Mings picked up another suspected knee injury. He initially tried to continue after a seemingly innocuous clash with Mohammed Kudus, but eventually left the field in tears.
Lucas Digne moved to centre-back in Mings’ absence and struggled, with West Ham looking to capitalize in the second half.
They also had the best chances after the break, Ezri Konsa clearing the ball off the line on the hour before the visitors made the breakthrough they deserved 10 minutes later.
It was a good header from Emerson, who got in at the back post to meet Edson Alvarez’s right-wing cross. There were questions late on as to whether Alvarez should have been sent off for a second yellow card, but the Mexican escaped another.
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Emerson headed in at the back post to equalize for West Ham
Potter was then celebrating after what proved to be the last kick of the game when Lucas Paqueta scored from a pass from Tomas Soucek, but the latter was offside in the build-up and the flag was raised. It took only seconds for the VAR to agree with the on-field decision.
The point sees West Ham slip further down the table to 13th. For Aston Villa, they remain four points off the top four, although their unbeaten league run at Villa Park now stretches to 11 games. However, there will need to be some improvement in this test ahead of their final Champions League game at home to Celtic on Wednesday evening.
More to follow.
