Premier League: West Ham secure heavy win over Aston Villa; Rodrigo fires Leeds to victory over Norwich
West Ham enjoyed a convincing 4-1 win over Aston Villa while Leeds secured their second league win of the season with victory at Norwich.
Aston Villa 1-4 West Ham
Infogol xG: 0.80 - 2.71
West Ham won 4-1 at Aston Villa to move into the top four in the Premier League and round off a wonderful week for David Moyes’ side.
The Hammers defeated London rivals Tottenham last weekend and reached the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory against holders Manchester City, before putting 10-man Villa to the sword.
Villa boss Dean Smith will feel everything that could go wrong did go wrong as his team slipped to a fourth successive Premier League defeat.
Long-range strikes from Ben Johnson and Declan Rice saw Moyes’ men head into half-time in front, after Ollie Watkins had equalised for the hosts.
Ezri Konsa’s red card shortly after the break gave Villa an uphill task and further goals from Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen inside the final 10 minutes settled the contest.
A change of shape saw Villa make a nervy start and Said Benrahma had already had a sight of goal before West Ham went ahead with just seven minutes on the clock.
Rice sprayed a pass out to the right flank for Johnson, who was in all sorts of space and cut inside on to his left foot before curling a low shot into the far corner of the net.
Some superb defending from Matty Cash denied West Ham a second goal as he twice blocked driven efforts by Bowen, bravely heading clear the second attempt from just in front of his goal line, before Watkins levelled things up in the 34th minute.
John McGinn and Emiliano Buendia combined down the right, with Buendia turning Fornals to get to the byline inside the penalty area where his low cross was steered home by Watkins from around the penalty spot.
Villa’s delight was short-lived, however, as Rice restored the visitors’ lead with a 25-yard shot that bobbled its way into the back of the net via a touch off the post just four minutes later.
Things got worse for Villa at the start of the second half with Konsa’s red card. A mess defensively for Dean Smith’s side, Hause caught Fornals in the face on the run before Konsa was then booked for knocking Bowen to the ground right on the edge of the box.
VAR took a look at both incidents and decided that Hause had no case to answer, while Konsa saw his yellow card upgraded to red after referee Chris Kavanagh had been to look at the monitor.
Villa were still in the match entering the final 10 minutes but the Hammers gave themselves some breathing space when Fornals tapped in the rebound from close range after Martinez had done well to save Bowen’s initial shot.
Bowen added a fourth goal after 84 minutes with another simple finish after being unselfishly set up by substitute Manuel Lanzini.
Norwich 1-2 Leeds
Infogol xG: 1.06 - 0.81
Raphinha and Rodrigo grabbed second-half goals to earn Leeds a 2-1 win that continued Norwich’s nightmare return to the Premier League.
A crazy four-minute spell after the break settled the game as Marcelo Bielsa’s men picked up a second top-flight victory of the season.
Raphinha opened the scoring in the 56th minute before Andrew Omobamidele levelled, but the Canaries succumbed to Rodrigo’s long-range effort that slipped through Tim Krul’s grasp as their winless run in the Premier League extended to 20 matches.
Daniel Farke reacted to the 7-0 horror show at Chelsea by ditching the five at the back formation which had been used in the last four games and handed opportunities to Omobamidele and Kieran Dowell, who were both making only their second league starts this season.
After a lack of clear-cut opportunities during the opening 45, that all changed at the beginning of the second period.
First Raphinha produced the type of quality which had been lacking throughout when he rifled home for his fourth goal of the season.
James passed out to the Brazilian on the right and Leeds’ number 10 cut inside Omobamidele and Hanley before he fired back across goal into the bottom corner.
Norwich responded two minutes later after Meslier passed the ball out for a corner, which Rashica whipped in for Omobamidele to head home for his first professional goal.
It would not last long however with Leeds retaking the lead on the hour mark following a critical error.
Kalvin Phillips passed into the path of Rodrigo, who was given too much time and let fly from 30-yards with a swirling left-footed drive which slipped through Krul and found the net.