West Ham fans had another adventure on Thursday night. They were in Cyprus, watching their team play AEK Larnaca in the last 16 of the Europa Conference League, and it went well. A rare clean sheet, a couple of fine goals for Michail Antonio, Kurt Zouma getting some miles into his legs – plenty of positives for David Moyes to take back to London before Sunday afternoon’s visit from Aston Villa.
“It’s a big game for us,” Moyes said. “It feels like every home game in recent weeks has been a big game.” No wonder. West Ham have taken only six points on their travels this season – their only away win in the league came at Villa Park last August – and are bruised after last weekend’s 4-0 defeat by Brighton.
