Premier LeagueWest Ham United 2-3 Aston Villa
Saturday, 13th December 2025
by Chris Wilkerson | Forum match thread
A rollercoaster of a game was settled by a moment of quality, as Morgan Rogers scored a delightful curler from range with 10 minutes to go to give Aston Villa a 3-2 victory at the London Stadium.
The Hammers had the perfect start, scoring inside 30 seconds, but whilst they led twice, the in-form Villans kept fighting back, and turned five Premier League wins on the spin to six to keep the pressure on Arsenal ahead of them.Goals from Fernandes and Bowen were cancelled out by a Mavropanos own goal and two from the utterly fantastic Morgan Rogers in what was a very competitive and highly engaging game of football.
It was another good performance to take some positives from for West Ham, but these are coming with very few points in a season of the tightest margins in the Premier League.
There were two changes from the team that drew away at Brighton midweek, as the back four returned, bringing Potts and Magassa back into midfield, replacing Kilman and Rodriguez.
It was an often frantic first half, full of incident and entertainment as The Hammers used the pace of Summerville and Bowen on the counter to keep Villa on their toes. The game could hardly have started faster, with 29 seconds on the clock when Mateus Fernandes scored the fastest goal of this Premier League season so far.
As the away side tried to control possession in their own defence, they got stuck in the corner at right back. Summerville and Fernandes pressed high and made those Villa defenders uncomfortable.
Konsa received it again and tried to move away from the pressure, but his attempt to dribble into his own penalty box caused his undoing. He stumbled on it, tackling himself, and Fernandes pounced on the loose ball hungrily.
The Portuguese midfielder looked up to see if there was a dangerous pass on, but quickly realised nobody was better placed than him. From a tight angle, he smashed it with curl across the face of the goal, finding the roof of the net as he hammered it into the top corner, beating Bizot for pace and power as it crashed into the Villa goal and gave West Ham a 1-0 lead inside 30 seconds of play.
To the away side's great credit, they immediately got back into the rhythm of their own game, unshaken by the error and concession. The crowd rose to give Billy Bonds a rousing round of applause after four minutes, but it was the Villa fans up on their feet next as their side got back into the game and drew level.
Patient build-up got the ball out to McGinn on the right wing. He cut inside and was given too much space by Diouf, and used it to curl a dangerous cross into the box towards Watkins.
The striker had made a darting run behind Todibo as Mavropanos followed, and it was the Greek defender who was unfortunate to get a header on goal, with the ball missed by Watkins and ricocheting off Mavropanos's head, firing past Areola and into the back of the West Ham goal to give Aston Villa a fortunate equaliser.
The Villans were on top, and stayed that way through large periods of the half.
As has been seen in recent times, that is hardly a problem for The Hammers, maybe even welcomed as they looked to use the pace of Summerville and Bowen on the counter attack. The system demands a lot from the pair, who still put in the yards defensively, but are now primed as the players playing furthest forward, with Paqueta taking Wilson's place on the teamsheet, but not his role up front, instead becoming the tip of the midfield who is ready to supply the passes that launch West Ham forward.
Emery's Villa are not exactly a reckless side, and leave numbers to deal with the counter. As they probed and prodded at the West Ham defence, Onana and Kamara anchored the midfield.
For all their control of the ball, their actual threat on goal was limited as they struggled to find ways through the defensive structure of their hosts. As they huffed and puffed, they couldn't keep the door entirely closed behind them. Somewhat against the run of play, West Ham were the ones who took the lead.
Paquet?? clipped a ball down the left wing and found Diouf, who tried a cross into the box on the bounce. It deflected off a defender, and as he claimed for handball, the West Ham left back retrieved the loose ball and curled in a cross.
It was headed away, but only to the edge of the box, dropping nicely for Freddie Potts to hit a volley at goal. The strike wasn't the cleanest, but what it did do was arrow straight to Jarrod Bowen, who was onside just outside the six-yard box, and the captain fired it home from close range to restore West Ham's lead just shy of 25 minutes gone.
VAR checked an offside on Diouf after the original pass, but he was cleared, and the London Stadium was left to celebrate another lead. Villa struggled to find an answer this time, and even as the game had 5-10 minutes of open, end-to-end football, the away side failed to fire a shot on goal until the final minute of standard time in the first half.
It allowed West Ham to go into the half-time break with a 2-1 lead, full of confidence having gone toe-to-toe with a team that have been drawn into a title-race conversation in recent weeks.
There were no changes at half time, but it was less than five minutes until Aston Villa were level again. The Hammers looked like they'd played out of trouble well, but Paqueta was too casual in possession in his own half. The ball was stolen from him and played down the right wing to Tielemans with West Ham stretched.
His cross missed Watkins, but found Rogers at the back post, who controlled calmly and fired it into the bottom corner from seven yards out, and the Champions League chasing Villans were level again.
It suited a game where control was hard to find. The two West Ham goals had come from dispossessing Villa in their own half, and the away side had scored one own goal and then this second equaliser, another coming from a sloppy loss of possession. Control of the ball did not necessarily mean control of the game.
West Ham reacted well, and whilst neither side could take a real grip of the game, both looked confident in how they were approaching their work. It was one of those games that was going to be decided by a mistake or a moment of individual quality.
Emery started to make changes. Malen was thrown on up front with Watkins, and he stung Areola's palms within a minute of entering the field, smashing right at the goalkeeper after Fernandes was dispossessed on the edge of his own box.
Minutes later, Bowen rifled an effort across goal from the left and into the far corner, but the flag was raised instantly, and correctly, as the captain drifted offside when he need not have.
Everything was tense. Everyone was aware, from pitch to stands, that goals had come out of nothing in this game. The Hammers had arguably had the best of it since the Villa equaliser, but knew not to think much of that.
Buend?-a and Digne came on, with West Ham still not making changes as the contrast between the benches each manager had were laid bare.
Summerville had the slightest of chances, bundling into the box and seeing it deflected to him, only for space to run out as he half tackled, half shot wide from a tight angle. And then Villa went up the other end and scored the winner.
Rogers peeled himself off the wing and drifted into space in the middle. He was left unwatched, and then found with a strong pass through the middle.
The England international, the man who may keep Gal??ctico Jude Bellingham out of the England team come the summer, turned to face goal and used the space awarded to him. He settled, looked up, and picked his spot from 25 yards out, curling a delightful effort over and around Areola, who was 10 yards off his line and had absolutely no answer to the strike.
Now, with 10 minutes remaining, West Ham had to chase a goal or take nothing away from this match.
Wilson was thrown on, but West Ham had no ideas as Villa sat deep and protected their late lead. Kante, Soucek and Rodriguez were a desperate last roll of the dice with a minute left of standard time, but Rogers was the only one who found space for a shot as time ran out, firing wide after driving into the area.
The final whistle came without drama, and West Ham had managed to lead twice and take nothing from a match they had been in throughout. An engrossing spectacle, The Hammers will look back at simple mistakes that cost them after they had caused issues for their in-form visitors.
It was another display that made this team look far from the one that started the season, and much better than 18th in the table. But that's where they remain, unable to pick up the wins that need to come with these improved performances.
As Nottingham Forest tore Tottenham apart and Leeds fought to a draw away at Brentford, Nuno's side are now three behind their closest rivals and starting to swim upstream.
Manager's Rating
Nuno Espirito Santo: 6/10 Set the team up well and coached a press that caused enough problems to force a goal, but seemed unable to change things in the second half when fresh legs might have helped, and then made a bad trio of substitutions late on, with all three midfielders a bad choice.
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Click to view all West Ham United vs Aston Villa match reports Click to view all match reports by Chris Wilkerson Like to share your thoughts on this article? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.Player Ratings
Alphonse AreolaGiven little to do, but will have question marks over him on the winner. He had time to get back on his line, but was stuck in the middle of his box and beaten because of it.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Not a bad display, but he could have recovered better for the Rogers equaliser for 2-2.
El Hadji Malick Diouf
Slightly loose on McGinn for the first goal, but recovered well and had a big hand in the second West Ham goal.
Konstantinos Mavropanos
Unlucky with the own goal, and then a little panicked for the second.
Jean-Clair Todibo
Another strong performance, and Todibo has now gone from the least convincing of the central defenders to comfortably the best.
Freddie Potts
Quieter, but with an assist. Kept things ticking over and helped West Ham go toe-to-toe with one of the strongest midfields in the league.
Soungoutou Magassa
A really good performance in the heart of midfield, showing more and more to his game as his confidence grows. This showed him as a man equally as combative when defending high and on the front foot, stepping in to dispossess in the Villa half and pulling out some lovely passing as he did.
Mateus Fernandes
Very quickly becoming the side's best player, he's central to everything from the tempo in the press, to dictating play and defending with strength and speed.
Crysencio Summerville
He looks really threatening until you see what he does with the ball when it matters. He's a lovely dribbler, has great pace and scares defenders, but he too often fails to do much of anything with it once in dangerous areas.
Lucas Paqueta
A display of nice touches and moments was ruined by another lackadaisical bit of play in his own half that saw him dispossessed just as his teammates had made runs forward. He was ponderous and then weak, the ball nicked away from him so easily, and Villa fly forward to equalise for a second time.
Jarrod Bowen
Clearly still the only consistent goal threat, he managed to steal one by playing on the last defender in the box, and could have had another if he'd just been more aware of the line.
Substitutes
Callum Wilson(Magassa 81') Made no impact off the bench, and his inability to occupy a defence as a solo striker actually made us worse.
Mohamadou Kante
(Paqueta 89') The only sub who didn't make the team worse.
Tomas Soucek
(Summerville 89') A confused role, he was dropping deep to dictate play and try play killer balls into the box, something he is maybe the least suitable of doing of the whole outfield squad.
Guido Rodriguez
(Potts 89') Tried to win a late freekick in the corner by flopping to the floor, and just lost possession instead.
Mads Hermansen
Did not play.
Kyle Walker-Peters
Did not play.
Ollie Scarles
Did not play.
Igor Julio
Did not play.
Max Kilman
Did not play.
Match Facts
West Ham United: Alphonse Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Jean-Clair Todibo, Freddie Potts, Soungoutou Magassa, Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville, Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen.Goals: Mateus Fernandes 1 Jarrod Bowen 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.
Booked: None booked. 0 0 0 0 0 0.
Sent Off: None sent off. 0 0 0.
Aston Villa: .
Subs not used: .
Goals: .
Booked: .
Sent off: None.
Referee: .
Attendance: 0.
Man of the Match: Mateus Fernandes.