Capital punishment? West Ham v Villa match preview and team news

Villa visit West Ham United in search of a ninth consecutive win in all competitions and a sixth in the Premier League

Unai Emery likes to talk about every match as a new test. The games that went before are done and dusted. All that matters is now and that’s a mindset his players will need to embrace in the coming weeks.

Aston Villa have won a load of matches. It’s now eight in all competitions and five in the Premier League. Emery is trying to guard not against complacency, but against the onset of reality. Villa will fail to win a game soon. It’s what they do next that will give that game its context.

Villa’s home form is beginning to take on a life of its own. It played into the win over Arsenal, certainly. Staying on the right side of results away from home isn’t quite the same brief. The home side tend to want a say, for one thing.

There have been times this season when West Ham United were a soft touch. They won two of their first ten Premier League games and took five home fixtures to get a win at the London Stadium.

A change of manager seems to have done some good. Nuno Espírito Santo isn’t going to put out a team likely to roll over and the only question mark over the Hammers’ safety from relegation is whether the raw materials required are actually available to him.