Key events
Matthew Dunn was at the London Stadium for us tonight; I’ll leave you with his match report. Ta-ra!
Amadou Onana’s reaction
Amazing. I couldn’t have had a better start – the delivery was 12/10 and I couldn’t miss. The fans have been unbelievable. I like to play for traditional clubs with a big history.
I’m the main target at corners; my teammates try to create space for me. I think I did well – Antonio is a hard man to get away from. We work on set-pieces a lot and it’s nice that it paid off today.
[On Unai Emery] I couldn’t have a better manager at this stage of my career. His football IQ is unbelievable. I think I can improve on the ball. Unai is top top top regarding that.
I’m very comfortable playing with Youri [Tielemans], we understand each other on the pitch.
Jhon [Duran] will be a crucial player for us this season. He’s a very talented young man: big, fast, physical. We’re delighted to have him.
There’s nothing better than that Champions League song. I played in it at Lille and I can’t wait.
“We’ve had non-celebrations for scoring against former clubs, we’ve had non-celebrations for when players were on loan years ago for a couple of weeks,” begins Dylan Kenny. “Is this the first time a player hasn’t celebrated after scoring against a club he has been linked with?”
I wasn’t entirely sure what he was up to – was he apologising to the Villa fans?
Full time: West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa
An excellent start to the season for Villa and particularly Uncle Unai. His big summer signing, Amadou Onana, headed Villa ahead in the fourth minute, then three of his substitutes combined for a slick winning goal from Jhon Duran.
Lucas Paqueta had equalised for West Ham with a debatable penalty. They improved in the second half, with Mohammed Kudus a big threat on the left, but overall Villa probably deserved the win.
90+7 min: How did that stay out! Kudus’s chipped cross from the right is met by Soucek, only a few yards out, and his header back across goal is hits the chest of Konsa. The ball bounces back towards Soucek, who slices it over from four yards!
90+5 min Villa are keeping the ball well. Philogene has half a chance but decides to cross instead of shoot and it’s headed away.
90+3 min Ward-Prowse’s corner is missed by Martinez, who ran into one of his own players, but bounces kindly for Villa to clear.
90+2 min A clever ball around the Villa defence, not sure who played it, reaches Summerville on the far side. Nedeljkovic does well to track him and concede a corner.
90+2 min “What about Sly Nastiness In Defensive Enterprise?” says Steve Dennis.
It’s the E that’s causing the problems here isn’t it.
90+1 min There will be seven minutes of added time.
90 min Now Philogene is booked for a foul on somebody.
89 min Philogene tries to clear a cross, launches fresh air downfield and is relieved to see the ball bounce through to Martinez after hitting his standing leg. That could easily have gone to a West Ham attacker.
87 min “May I suggest: Sneakiness Involving Denial of Enjoyment,” writes Will Lane.
Strong start. Strong middle. Let’s leave it there.
86 min Ings’ first touch is a flicked header from Summerville’s cross that draws a decent save from Martinez. He leapt to his left and clutched the ball with both hands.
85 min: Double substitution for West Ham Danny Ings and Jean-Clair Todibo replace Vladimir Coufal and Guido Rodriguez. That means a switch to three at the back.
83 min: Chance for Villa! Duran, Ramsey and Maatsen combine again, with Kilman sliding desperately towards his own goal to block Maatsen’s cross-shot.
Turns out Maatsen was offside but he and Ramsey are combining beautifully on the left.
83 min “I suggest: Some Naughtiness Involving Denying Enemy Nearing Scoring Situation,” writes Chloë Vaughan. “I think it has a nice ring to it.”
I’m not sure SNIDENSS rolls off the tongue, but it has promise. And it’s better than anything I’ve come up with.
82 min: Villa substitution The teenager Kosta Nedeljkovic replaces Matty Cash, who was given a serious workout by Mohammed Kudus.
Oh what a lovely goal that was. It started with Pau Torres, who lofted the ball towards the overlapping Maatsen on the left. He cushioned a volley infield to Ramsey, who reversed a terrific first-time pass across the area towards Duran. He completed a hat-trick of brilliant touches from the Villa substitutes by sweeping a left-foot shot past Areola from 12 yards.
BRILLIANT GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa (Duran 79)
Jhon Duran bites the hand that wanted to feed him!
77 min “The Fullkrug Monty,” is the subject of Peter Oh’s email. “West Ham’s BFG is gonna score the winner, isn’t he?”
It’s what the big man does best.
76 min Correction: Fullkrug replaced Antonio, not Kudus.
75 min: Double substitution for Villa Ian Maatsen comes on to make his Villa debut in place of Lucas Digne, and Jaden Philogene replaces Leon Bailey.
74 min: Triple substitution for West Ham Niclas Fullkrug, Crysensio Summerville and James Ward-Prowse replace Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen (who was very quiet) and Michail Antonio.
72 min Bailey’s corner is punched away decisively by Areola. Kudus makes some space with a lovely bit of ball-juggling and tries to put somebody through on goal. It’s just cut out by Cash.
71 min West Ham have had 52 per cent of the possession. For reference, they had 31 per cent in the equivalent game last season, which finished 1-1.
69 min “I’ve long thought that the concept of ‘denial of a goal scoring opportunity’ was a really elegant way to point out a problem that was once rife in football,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Maybe a similar phrase could encapsulate what’s so enervating about the tactical foul. Denial of building an attack? I’m sure there are better ways to phrase it.”
If it has the abbreviation SNIDE, so much the better.
66 min: Great chance for Villa! Looks can be deceiving. Lucas Digne guides an early through pass to Duran, who times his run brilliantly but then curls into the side netting as Areola advances. I think that was his first touch, and it would have been quite a twist given he almost joined West Ham in the summer.
65 min It hasn’t been a great second half. Villa look quite tired, actually, and at the moment West Ham look the likelier scorers.
64 min Coufal wafts a good cross beyond the far post, where Antonio pulls away from Cash but heads over. Niclas Fullkrug would have fancied his chances with that.
62 min: Double substitution for Villa Jhon Duran and Jacob Ramsey replace Ollie Watkins, who isn’t yet sharp enough to play 90 minutes, and John McGinn.
61 min Kudus gets away from Cash with a brilliant first touch, moves to the edge of the area and sprays a shot well wide of the near post. Lovely run though.
61 min “How’s Super John McGinn doing?” wonders Simon McMahon. “Only natural that he’d be knackered after Scotland’s run to the semi-finals group stage of Euro 24, right?”
He’s done okay I’d say. Had a decent chance at 1-0.
60 min Rogers plays a clever pass into the area for Watkins. Mavropanos tracks him all the way and then Watkins slips over.
56 min: Chance for Villa! A quick break almost leads to a second for Villa. Bailey and Rogers combined to tee up Tielemans, whose shot from the edge of the area was blocked. It ricocheted back to Rogers, whose tameish half-volley from 12 yards was shovelled round the near post by Areola.
55 min The corner is headed away to Rodriguez, who volleys over from 25 yards. Worth a pop.
55 min The dangerous Kudus wriggles away from Cash, who does well to recover and block the eventual cross. Kudus has been West Ham’s biggest threat by a distance.
54 min “You suggest (at 41 min) that WHU have been the better team since their goal,” says Sean Coffey. “I would suggest they were the better team from just prior to scoring as well.”
Look, I’ll do the pedantry round here, okay. It’s all I’ve got.
52 min This is a much more even game now. Kudus, who has played pretty well on the left, whips another cross that is inadvertently headed towards his own goal by Onana. Martinez makes a comfortable save.
50 min “I feel at times the criticism of tactical fouling is similar to that when a team parks the bus,” says Benjamin Park. “Certain teams/players have the luxury of never or rarely having to employ it because of their quality. It’s like if Man City faced Everton and complained they didn’t attempt to play total football, tiki-taka, build of from the back, all the kinds of things they’d relish facing and are capable of doing. Of course Everton would try to make the game chaotic, be physical, waste time and all the rest. To ask otherwise is a times to claim it should be a a duel on equal standing, when one side clearly is disadvantaged by this.”
My hunch is the opposite, that the best teams commit more tactical fouls than anyone. Might be wrong though. I suppose what we can all agree is that, as wonderful as football is, it’s overflowing with dishonest, hypocritical self-interest.
48 min: Chance for West Ham Kudus runs at Cash in the area. His first cross is blocked but then he rabonas a beauty towards Soucek at the far post. He takes the ball down on the chest, six yards from goal, and rifles a half-volley that is crucially blocked by Digne.
47 min Paqueta, who was booked in the first half, treads painfully on Bailey’s toe. I think it was an accident. More importantly, the referee isn’t interested.
46 min Peepety peep: Villa begin the second half.
Half-time reading
Half time: West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa
Funny old game. Villa were totally superior for 35 minutes and led through Amadou Onana’s debut goal. Then West Ham were awarded a debatable penalty, converted with a resting heart rate by Lucas Paqueta, and the rest of the half was an even contest.
45+1 min Three minutes of added time.
45 min The impressive Bailey cuts inside Mavropanos on the edge of the area, but his shot is mishit and goes well wide.
Meanwhile, here’s that equaliser from Lucas Paqueta.
43 min “I’m not fully awake yet, but…” begins Brian McCloskey before launching into a few Big Lebowski puns. “I’m just gonna find a Matty Cash machine… That’s just, like, Youri Tielemans opinion, man.”
42 min The resulting corner leads to an appeal for handball when Kudus’s header hits Rogers. The man from VAR, he say no.
41 min West Ham have been the better team since the goal. Emerson plays a give-and-go, dances all the way across the field and hits a low drive that is pushed round by Martinez. I think it was going wide anyway but he took no chances.
38 min “All this chasing down & harassing the refs in matchday 1 seems a bit over the top,” says Karen Asadi. “I mean chill guys, it’s not like your life depends on it. I get playing for the shirt and all but it all really plays to the larger narrative of refs becoming the game’s whipping boys. Or like easy targets for bullies in school.”
I agree. But it’s not just the players – the media feed and encourage it, then moralise when somebody tries to chin a referee. I’m sure I do it at times, albeit without realising.
I blame the internet. For this, and everything.
GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa (Paqueta 37 pen)
Lucas Paqueta sits Emi Martinez down and slowly passes the ball into the net. Lovely penalty; he didn’t even look at the ball.
36 min: The penalty decision stands! It would probably have been overturned last season. Welcome back VAR, we’ve missed you.
VAR check A long ball into the area was taken down on the chest by Soucek, who then fell over after a tangle of legs with Cash. I think that’s harsh; Cash got a touch on the ball first.
35 min: Penalty to West Ham!
34 min Villa have been so impressive, playing with authority and a relaxed confidence. But 1-0 is a dangerous lead, almost as dangerous as 2-0, so they’ll be taking nothing for granted.
32 min: Just wide from McGinn! Rogers makes another barnstorming round through midfield and finds Bailey on the right. He cuts inside and forces a deflected pass through to McGinn on the edge of the area. His first effort is blocked and then he sidefoots a shot that rolls just past the far post.
31 min Lucas Paqueta is booked for a late tackle on Tielemans. Let’s not go there.
30 min Kudus’s dangerous cross from the left is headed behind by Digne, who was under pressure from Soucek and did really well.
