West Ham ‘hold the aces’ – Hammers looking for third league win on the bounce

Monday Night Football sees Aston Villa take on West Ham at Villa Park.

The hosts have just three points from their opening four Premier League games and currently sit in the bottom three, but Dean Smith won’t be panicking just yet.

Defeat to Crystal Palace before the international break was undeserved and unfortunate.

The Villains bagged what they thought was a late equaliser at Selhurst Park, but Henri Lansbury’s strike was wrongly disallowed after referee Kevin Friend thought Jack Grealish had dived in the build up to the goal. He hadn’t.

And it’s decisions like that that could be the difference between staying up and going down.

Meanwhile West Ham are flying. Victory over Villa on Monday and a third league win on the bounce would lift the Hammers up to third, level on points with champions Manchester City.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side beat Norwich 2-0 before the international break, picking up their first Premier League clean sheet of the season. They’re 19/4 to beat Aston Villa to nil.

Villa last beat West Ham back in 2015. Jack Grealish assisted the only goal of the game to give Villa all three points at Villa Park. Smith’s side are 12/1 to win by the same scoreline on Monday.

Sebastian Haller has hit the ground running for the Hammers. He’s bagged three goals in his last two appearances and is 11/2 to open the scoring.

Aston Villa are 13/8 to secure back to back home wins, the draw is 13/5 and West Ham are 6/4 to leave with all three points.