West Ham United missed the chance to move two points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone on Sunday afternoon with a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at the London Stadium.
The Hammers were forced to come from behind when Ollie Watkins’ header put Unai Emery’s side ahead, with Said Benrahma earning David Moyes’ men a draw from the penalty spot before the break, moving West Ham out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
As West Ham now have a three-week break from the Premier League, here are the major talking points from the Hammers’ point in east London.
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Another missed opportunity
When West Ham left the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon, they will have wondered how they have picked up just a point against Villa, having created more than enough to have sealed a win that would have seen the Hammers climb a further three places up to 14th.
Moyes’ men will have also wondered how despite Villa struggling to get out of their half in the first 15 minutes, one of the first times they did so, Watkins opened the scoring on 17 minutes, getting between Nayef Aguerd and Emerson far too easily to head in Alex Moreno’s cross, with the Spanish left-back given the freedom to roam forward.
Villa’s lead was cancelled out nine minutes later by Benrahma, but a lot of it came from the good work of Lucas Paqueta. After Emiliano Martinez flapped at a Jarrod Bowen corner, Paqueta’s shot was headed off the line by Watkins and fell back to Paqueta, with his back to goal. He bought the ball down with a sublime touch and then bought himself a penalty after contact from Leon Bailey, with Benrahma making no mistake when firing into the roof of the net, his eighth goal of the season in all competitions.
That penalty would prove to be the start of Benrahma’s flurry of shots, one of ten he would go on to have in the game.
Villa almost found themselves ahead on the stroke of half-time when again, Moreno got the better of Thilo Kehrer to pass to Jacob Ramsey who squirmed it to Watkins. Somehow, his effort from close-range was denied by Alphonse Areola, on his home Premier League debut.
Less than 20 seconds into the second half, West Ham could and probably should have led when Bowen’s cross found Benrahma at the back post, who volleyed at goal.
While Aston Villa had the odd foray forward that forced the best out of ex-Chelsea duo Kurt Zouma and Emerson, going forward, West Ham looked the most likely to go ahead
The tenacious running of Bowen and the flicks and tricks of Benrahma and Paqueta had Villa forced into clearing their lines on several occasions, with Benrahma testing Martinez from range, going close with both a routine hit and a sensational strike off some great control and Zouma long pass, forcing Martinez into a diving save to palm the latter over the crossbar.
Bowen’s running from the right, having created a half chance for Benrahma minutes earlier, created a golden chance for Spaniard Pablo Fornals shortly after coming on, but with the ball behind him, scuffed a shot over; one of the better chances West Ham had.
Villa’s only real threat of snatching a late winner came when Emiliano Buendia went down in the penalty area. Not given initially, a VAR check proved Declan Rice’s innocence.
Late on, Maxwel Cornet replaced Danny Ings in his first league appearance since October 1, with Michail Antonio out injured and Gianluca Scamacca left to watch on.
Moyes’ thinking was that Cornet’s pace would get the better of Villa’s back line with balls over the top, and West Ham got exactly that, if only Cornet could keep himself onside.
There were large parts of the performance to be pleased about, many chances created but nothing clinical. West Ham may have got out of the relegation zone, albeit via goal difference, but they could and should be two points clear, knowing that by the time they next play in the league at home to bottom club Southampton in 20 days’ time, West Ham will certainly be back in the relegation zone, if not at the foot of the table before kick-off.
Lucas Paqueta’s frustrations
Midfielder Paqueta had a largely impressive game, not only winning the penalty, but showed some dynamism in the middle of midfield and alongside Bowen and Benrahma, often looked capable of making things happen going forward.
With 20 minutes remaining, Paqueta, who had run his socks off for large parts, was booked for a late sliding tackle, the game’s first and only booking.
Just seven minutes after that, Paqueta found himself the first man Moyes took off and the £35.6million summer signing, who could potentially be the club’s record signing after add-ons, was replaced by Fornals, something which Paqueta did not agree with.
Much to his frustrations, Paqueta did not hide his emotion, storming straight down the tunnel after being substituted.
Paqueta did eventually come back to the bench, but the incident clearly illustrated a level of confusion and anger as to why, arguably West Ham’s most dynamic player, found himself ejected before the game.
After the game, Moyes said that he made the decision for two reasons, for fresh legs and to try and to avoid the risk of Paqueta getting another yellow card.
Taking place at the same time as West Ham’s draw with Villa was a meeting between Manchester United and Southampton, a game where Paqueta’s Brazil national team midfield partner and United star Casemiro was shown a straight red card and will now receive a four-match ban for his second red card of the season.
Paqueta, for getting a second yellow card, would have only missed one match, but that match against Saints on April 2 is nothing short of a relegation six-pointer, and West Ham simply have to have Paqueta available for it.
His visible anger will not be a good look for him or Moyes and while losing his talent did not make sense, airing on the side of caution does.
Gianluca Scamacca mystery solved
Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca has been back from a knee injury for around a month, having missed the back end of January and start of February with it.
However, since his return, the 24-year-old has hardly kicked a ball and has now gone four matches in the Premier League without being used off the bench, despite Antonio missing the last two through hamstring and calf issues respectively.
There has been a mystery surrounding his gametime over the past month, having been the club’s top scorer for much of the season in all competitions up until a couple of months ago, but now, the reasons behind his game time struggles have more substance to them.
The biggest question over the Italian came against Villa when Ings was taken off with five minutes to go, having touched the ball just ten times in the game. Moyes turned to Cornet, who while he is not a complete wildcard option to use up front, is not a natural striker and had not played a game for over five months until making a later cameo in the first leg win over AEK Larnaca on Thursday night.
Scamacca was set to come on in second half stoppage-time, warming up and even being stood in the dugout in his playing shirt, awaiting the chance to come on, but instead, was left sat awaiting minutes that never came.
After the game, Moyes was asked about why Cornet was preferred and Scamacca has struggled for minutes for some time.
Moyes said that Scamacca’ decline in physical data has led to his sudden exodus out of the side, adding that Cornet was preferred due to his pace, which while it did not lead to a late winner, showed a few signs of promise, had he managed to stay onside.
The comments on that showed that the striker is well out of the picture behind Ings, Antonio and now, even Cornet as the club’s striking options, something that seemed so unlikely even just a couple of months ago.
The best and worst of Said Benrahma
Benrahma took his penalty superbly and was one of West Ham’s standout players in the draw, but considering the number of chances, the Algerian international will have hoped to have scored at least two, if not more.
The ex-Brentford winger’s first penalty was his 13th direct goal contribution of the season in all competitions, three more than any other player, ranking joint-second for goals and top for assists.
However, he had ten of West Ham’s 17 total shots and five of the team’s six shots on target, equating to an individual expected goals (xG) tally of 1.20, as per data from Sofascore .
He did work Villa stopper Martinez on a few occasions, but the best of his chances that were not taken was only kept out by a vital late block by veteran Villa defender Ashley Young.
Benrahma has been West Ham’s most consistent performer in terms of direct goal contributions this season, but the game also highlighted the inconsistencies that are in his game, and while he has been criticised by Moyes in the past.
Of course, the burden cannot be put solely on Benrahma, especially as he had the same number of shots as Ings had touches, but Benrahma also showed why Moyes often wants more from him.
The right-back problem
With Vladimir Coufal absent and Ben Johnson having a shocker in last Saturday’s 4-0 loss at Brighton and Hove Albion, Moyes opted to play Kehrer at right-back, with the German defender tasked with trying to keep Villa left-back Moreno quiet.
In the first half, Kehrer did anything but nullify Moreno, who completely ran the Hammers defender ragged, creating the goal and being the source of multiple big chances for Villa.
Just eight days after Kaoru Mitoma caused havoc against Johnson, West Ham again found themselves with a weakness on the right side of their defence.
It probably says more about Coufal than it does Johnson or Kehrer, but Coufal has seemingly established himself in the role since the season restarted on Boxing Day.
Barring any setbacks, Coufal is set to be back certainly for that must-win game against Southampton and when he has been absent of late, his presence seems to be sorely missed.
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