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Amadou Onana scored on his debut for Villa, who took all three points thanks a superb winner from Jhon Durán 28 min “I think that tactical fouling is a perfectly legitimate, if often infuriating, part of the game, and one that surely must be worked on in training, ” says Charlie Robinson. “It reminds me a little of players taking the ball into the corner late in the game to waste time, winning throw-in after throw-in. Fans of the losing team will howl in despair, but I believe that time wasting and tactical fouling are one of the joys of football! “Do you think there’s something bordering on the heroic sometimes when players commit offences such as tactical fouls or similar, taking one for the team, so to speak? We all remember Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hacking down Rob Lee in 1998, although apparently Alex Ferguson was furious with him, and of course Luis Suarez’s handball against Ghana, which in my view is the Platonic form of the art. “We all know the consequences of such actions are a red card, so its acceptable within the laws of the game, so long as those rules are properly enforced. This may sound counter-intuitive, but I don’t regard either instance as being cheating as such, just doing what needs to be done within the confines of the game. ” I know what you mean. I probably admire Solskjaer and Suarez more because there was no attempt at deception. It’s the grubby, snide opportunism that gets a bit tedious. 26 min I suppose it was naive to think West Ham would hit the ground running given the change in their style of play. Villa look like a team who have been with the same, very very good coach for a couple of years. 23 min “Re: tactical fouls, I wondered this very point while I waited for the facial tics to subside after Ashley Young put my Everton down a man, ” writes Eric Peterson. “Why cost yourself a suspension for a last-man foul when you’re already down two goals against a clearly better team? If a guy with his experience can’t resist the call of the void in that situation, then I can’t judge. ” 22 min: Bailey hits the post! Villa should be 2-0 up. Cash drove a long pass over the top towards Bailey, who controlled the bouncing ball brilliantly and moved round Areola in the same movement. The angle was tight, with Kilman getting back, and he whipped his shot off the outside of the near post. 22 min “Talking of days gone by, my ear was caught when End of a Century by Blur came on the radio this morning, in particular the line about getting closer to 30, ” writes Simon Mc Mahon. “That was 30 years ago, and I’m now closer to 70 than I am to 30. How did that happen? Anyway, who’s winning the league this season? And don’t say Celtic. ” City. But which one? 21 min Rogers plays in the overlapping Mc Ginn, whose chipped cross is headed away to the edge of the area. Rogers collects the loose ball and squares it to Bailey, whose first-time shot is blocked. Villa have been much the better team in the first quarter. 19 min “Couldn’t help picking up on your ‘rug that tied the room together’ comment and took it as a green light for some Big Lebowski-themed fun, ” writes Peader de Burca. “If Douglas Luiz is the floor adornment from the Coen brothers’ classic, then who on this Villa team is Walter’s dirty undies? Who is The Dude’s 1973 Gran Torino? Who, in the parlance of our times, is the ‘trophy wife’? And who is young Larry’s scrunched-up homework? At least they all roll on Shabbos. ” 17 min Antonio’s snapshot from the edge of the area is blocked. West Ham need something to get the crowd going. 15 min Villa look a yard sharper than West Ham at the moment. A quick free-kick from Rogers – too quick for the camerman – puts Watkins through on goal on the right side of the area, but he dithers for a split-second and Areola dives at his feet. That looked an excellent chance. 13 min “In the Manchester City All or Nothing doc there is a sequence where Arteta (still at city at that point) is instructing their midfielders on exactly when to make tactical fouls in transitions, so I think they’re well ahead of you there! ” says Will Vignoles. Haha, tremendous. Do they train them on how to foul? One of Claude Makelele’s great strengths was his ability to make a foul look clumsy rather than cynical, and therefore not necessarily worthy of a yellow card. Norman Whiteside had the same ability, as evidenced here. 10 min: Good save by Areola! Rogers collects the ball in the centre circle and sets off. The West Ham defenders are distracted by various off-the-ball runs, which allows Rogers to make right through to the edge of the area before curling a low shot that is pushed away by Areola, diving to his right. Rogers didn’t get hold of it properly. 10 min Onana… one-nil! VILLA DRAW FIRST BLOOD! ? Three minutes into his Aston Villa Premier League debut and Amadou Onana is on the scoresheet ? pic. twitter. com/k0r Wqr JZZz 9 min We’ll probably have specialist tactical foul coaches by 2030. 8 min Bailey is booked for a tactical foul on Kudus, who was leading a West Ham break. I wonder if managers train players on when they should and shouldn’t take a yellow card, or whether instinct just kicks in. 7 min Villa have made a relaxed, confident start. West Ham have yet to settle. Amadou Onana has scored after 210 seconds of his Villa debut. Tielemans curled a left-wing corner into the six-yard box, where Onana got away from Antonio, leapt mightily and headed past Areola from four yards. Now that’s what I call a good debut. 4 min “Seasons greetings, Rob, ” says Digvijay Yadav. “Nostalgia is a fool’s errand and so on, but while the football now, at the top level, is amazing, I always find myself comparing this unfavourably with the late ‘90s and mid noughties. I used to watch everything then. Now I couldn’t tell you what is nice about the Villa bench that you’ve listed. Mostly, I miss the blood and thunder style. ” Mostly, I miss being 25 years younger. 2 min Kudus makes a very clumsy challenge on Mc Ginn in the West Ham area. The referee doesn’t give it time of day but I wouldn’t mind seeing a replay. The ball bounced up and it looked like Kudus might have kicked through Mc Ginn. That said, I don’t think there were many appeals from Villa. #WHUAVL – 2’ VAR checked a potential penalty for a challenge by Kudus on Mc Ginn. The VAR confirmed the referee’s call of no penalty, deeming it was minimal contact. 1 min Peep peep! West Ham kick off form left to right as we watch. Here come the players. These players, to be precise. West Ham (possible 4-2-3-1) Areola, Coufal, Kilman, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Rodriguez; Bowen, Kudus, Lucas Paqueta; Antonio.

Substitutes: Fabianski, Cresswell, Summerville, Ward-Prowse, Fullkrug, Ings, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Irving. Aston Villa (possible 4-2-2-2) Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers; Mc Ginn, Watkins.

Substitutes: Gauci, Diego Carlos, Barkley, Duran, Buendia, Philogene-Bidace, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Ramsey. Referee Tony Harrington. “Have Villa recruited well enough? ” wonders Andrew Hurley. “I think Douglas Luiz could be a big loss. And they don’t have enormous depth considering they were literally on fumes the last few games of last season, and they have champions league to come this season. But Emery…” Ha, yes, Emery. I agree about Douglas Luiz, who was the rug that tied the room together. Onana has huge potential but it’s largely unfulfilled at this stage. It’ll be a boost when Boubacar Kamara is fit again. I don’t mind their depth – the bench tonight includes Diego Carlos, Ross Barkley, Emi Buendia, Ian Maatsen, Jacob Ramsey and Jhon Duran. That’s solid enough. More match reports Everton 0-3 Brighton Newcastle 1-0 Southampton Match report: Arsenal 2-0 Wolves Ben Bloom was at the Emirates to watch Arsenal get their season off to relatively serene start. Arsenal 2-0 Wolves Oh, Everton 0-3 Brighton Ipswich 0-2 Liverpool Newcastle 1-0 Southampton Nottm Forest 1-1 Bournemouth “Having suffered another depressing start to my Everton boys’ season, I am looking forward to a palate cleanser of bright football from Villa, ” writes Mary Waltz. “I think they will retain their well-earned top four status from last season. ” I don’t think they will, personally, though they’ll be loads of fun to watch and it wouldn’t shock me if they went quite deep in the Champions League. A reminder of the teams West Ham (possible 4-2-3-1) Areola, Coufal, Kilman, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Rodriguez; Bowen, Kudus, Lucas Paqueta; Antonio.

Substitutes: Fabianski, Cresswell, Summerville, Ward-Prowse, Fullkrug, Ings, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Irving. Aston Villa (possible 4-2-2-2) Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers; Mc Ginn, Watkins.

Substitutes: Gauci, Diego Carlos, Barkley, Duran, Buendia, Philogene-Bidace, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Ramsey. Referee Tony Harrington. Season previews Guido Rodriguez and Max Kilman are the only summer signings to start for West Ham, though Niclas Fullkrug and friends are on the bench. Ollie Watkins starts up front for Villa, whose team also includes their big summer signing Amadou Onana. Our first @Premier League starting XI of 2024/25 ? pic. twitter. com/o5u9Pyf0Ds Your Aston Villa team to face West Ham. ? #WHUAVL || #Up The Villa pic. twitter. com/v Tsz SZFFc R Hello and welcome to live coverage of West Ham v Aston Villa at the London Stadium. This claret and blue contest is one of the better fixtures of the opening weekend, a hard-to-call meeting between a team that is making a fresh start and another that is about to explore new territory. Villa’s Champions League campaign starts next month, so for now their focus is to pick up where they left off in the Premier League. West Ham want less of the same: not so much an improvement in results as a change of style now that Julen Lopetegui has replaced David Moyes. They’ve had a very good transfer window, bringing in Niclas Fullkrug, Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo among others. A team that has lived and breathed counter-attacks for the last few years may take a while to adjust to having more of the ball. We’ll soon find out. Kick off 5. 30pm.