Watkins suffers as West Ham slows Aston Villa



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West Ham rose to fifth place as goals from Angelo Ogbonna and Jarrod Bowen sank Aston Villa 2-1.

The Hammers have had their best start to the season since moving to London Stadium four years ago.

They took advantage of their luck, however, as Villa drew once through Jack Grealish and had a chance to snatch a point, only for Ollie Watkins to miss a penalty.

And in injury time Watkins had the ball at the net only for an ‘armpit offside’ to rescue West Ham.

David Moyes’ team held on to climb over Manchester City, Manchester United, Villa, Everton, Wolves and Southampton on the table.

They went ahead with less than two minutes left after forcing a corner kick when Tomas Soucek’s shot was deflected behind by Matt Targett.

Bowen hit a cross and Italian midfielder Ogbonna broke loose at the far post to head in his first goal of the season.

There’s been a lot of talk about Michail Antonio’s return to West Ham’s attack, but Moyes appears to have goals from across the field – the last nine were scored by nine different players.

Villa had started slowly but gradually came to life and Ezri Konsa headed in before Conor Hourihane tested Lukasz Fabianski with a free kick.

Grealish tied them after 25 minutes when West Ham backed off the England midfielder before allowing him to bury his shot, with the help of a deflection, from 20 yards.

With Antonio having little impact, Moyes replaced him with Sebastien Haller and also sent Said Benrahma at halftime.

Bowen and Ogbonna found the net for West Ham

And in 30 seconds, Benrahma, Brentford’s 30 million pound signing, crossed for Bowen to lead West Ham to a 2-1 lead.

Things were getting ugly on the field and tensions were simmering, with Villa’s boss Dean Smith and Hammers coach Kevin Nolan constantly fighting each other.

Pablo Fornals was booked for a kick at the Grealish before Villa’s assistant John Terry and a member of West Ham’s back room also received yellow cards.

Villa could have equalized when Watkins crossed low on Trezeguet’s path, but the forward’s shot was weak and Fabianski was able to save.

They should have equalized moments after Declan Rice was tried for pulling Trezeguet’s jersey into the area.

Trezeguet left the field with a nasty cut above the eye, the result of landing on Rice’s studs when he hit the ground, but Watkins, looking nervous, raised his shot to the post against the crossbar.

Villa thought they had salvaged a point when Watkins tapped a Targett snap in injury time, but the VAR decided otherwise and West Ham held on for a third straight win.

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