West Ham United vs Aston Villa

Saturday 8th November 2014

15:00

Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Aston Villa

Analysis

West Ham go into this game unbeaten in four league games, 4 wins in our last six, and three home wins on the spin.

Aston Villa go into this one on the back of 6 defeats in a row in the league, a goal difference of minus 14 in that time, and three away defeats in a row.

No brainer, right?

It would by very typically West Ham for us to lose to Aston Villa on Saturday. In the 20-odd years I've followed the club it's felt like a regular feature.

Key Player

If Villa are to get something from the game, they would need someone to step into the void left by key players Christian Benteke - service the first of a three match suspension - and Fabian Delph - out until December with injury.

In their absence, the key man for Villa is undoubtedly Austrian forward Andreas Weimann.

Weimann scored Villa's first goal in 6 games last time out against Tottenham to take his tally for the season to 3 in 10 games. Hardly prolific, but it is Weimann's all round game that makes him the main threat.

Not only is he Villa's top goalscorer, he has also had more shots than anyone else, and only one Villain has created more chances than him this season. The image below shows the assists and chances created by Weimann this season.

http://www.squawka.com/players/andreas-weimann/

Perhaps the element of his game that deserves the most praise though is his workrate.

Only two Villa players have won more tackles than the Austrian this season, and it is not unusual to see him hassling and harrying defenders and midfielders in possession, and also working back down the flanks to support defensively.

Weimann's style of play is actually reminiscent of West Ham's in form strike partnership of Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho, both combining an attacking threat with electric pace and serious defensive graft.

The images below shows Weimann's tackles and heat map from the game against Hull back in August. You can see that he gets all over the park, working right back to support his fullbacks, and not just pushing forward.

http://epl.squawka.com/aston-villa-vs-hull-city/

How to Stop Aston Villa

Obviously, Villa have lost a lot of games recently. In their defence, they have played a number of top sides and Spurs, so their record is in some ways defensible.

Rather than look at their defeats to the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, I thought I'd look at their losses away at Everton and Queens Park Rangers. Everton are a side West Ham are aspiring to be like, and QPR are a side that West Ham should be outperforming in most areas.

What both sides did effectively against Villa is stop them having any time on the ball by defending from the front.

The images below show both side's tackles in the game. The left shows Everton, and right shows QPR. You can clearly see that both sides pushed high up the park, putting pressure on the Villa defence.

http://epl.squawka.com/everton-vs-aston-villa/

http://epl.squawka.com/queens-park-rangers-vs-aston-villa/

And the next pair of images show both sides average position map.

Again, you'll notice that both sides have an almost identical style. Both fullbacks (#23 & #3 for Everton, and #14 & #13 for QPR) push very high up the park. There are two central midfielders (#18 & 16, and #20 and #30) sitting deep, and then a central front three (#21, #10 & #20, and #10, #9 & #25). Finally, both sides have a 'spare' player (#14 and #24) operating slightly wider than the rest of the midfield.

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/

Both of these formations are similar to the diamond that West Ham have been operating with. I'll take our home game against Manchester City as an example.

Jenkinson and Cresswell pushed high up the park, Noble & Song sat in the middle, Downing, Sakho & Valencia acted as an advance front three, and Amalfitano was the 'spare' man.

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/

Continuing in this vein should be the order of the day for West Ham. Pushing high up the park has proven effective for two of Villa's recent conquerors, and if we perform as we can, we can make it a third.

Weakness

Aside from the fact that they are struggling in front of goal at the moment, I think Villa have an obvious weakness that opposition managers have been exploiting.

I've already spoken about the fact that Everton and QPR pushed up the pitch and hurried Villa's defenders. It isn't particularly unusual for Everton to approach the game like this, but it was a definite change in approach from QPR.

I think the reason Harry Redknapp altered his side's approach is because Villa are one of the poorer sides in distributing from the back.

This season, Villa have the third worse pass accuracy for defenders only, with their defenders completing just 76.8% of their passes. This isn't a horrendous rate overall, and is actually only just short of their overall success rate of 78%.

However, you would tend to expect defenders - particularly centre halves - to have a decent pass completion rate. The league average for defenders is currently 82.5% completion. 

The image below shows a chart of the pass completion for defenders only.

What makes this statistic particularly worrying for Villa, is that their defenders attempt an average of 131 passes per game this season - and have actually attempted 37.1% of the overall attempted passes for the side.

This suggests that their defence has a fair chunk of the ball, and that there will be opportunities to nick possession from the high up the park - be it via tackles, interceptions or blocks.

Conclusion

To be honest, I hate games like this.

It's not often we are expected to win, and coming up against a side in such poor form makes us the clear favourites. In years gone by, this would be an obvious banana skin for West Ham. This season? Maybe not.

But doesn't that extra dose of hope, optimism and expectation just make the fear in the pit of your stomach swell? You can't have been a Hammer for long if it doesn't!

 Head to Head 

36% Head to Head Win % 35%

39 Won 38

32 Drawn 32

38 Lost 39

168 Goals Scored 168

168 Goals Conceded 168

 Recent Form (excl. Friendlies) 

W L W W W D Last 6 L L L L L L

13 Goals Scored 1

7 Goals Conceded 15

  

L L L W W W Home/Away Form L W W L L L

9 Goals Scored 2

7 Goals Conceded 11

  

 Form Player (excl. GK) 

 (Last 6 League) 

Stewart Downing - Tom Cleverley

6 Appearances 6

540 Minutes Played 540

  

214 Sum Squawka Performance Score 119

36 Average Squawka Performance Rating 20

  

241 Passes Attempted 296

200 Completed 262

83% Success Rate 89%

  

15 Chances Created 7

2 Assists 0

  

9 Attempts on Goal 2

3 On Target 2

1 Goals 0

11 Take Ons Attempted 4

6 Successful Take Ons 2

55% Success Rate 50%

  

7 Tackles Made 29

3 Successful Tackles 16

43% Success Rate 55%

  

4 Interceptions 9

11 Clearances 7

0 Blocks 1

3 Defensive Actions Per Game 3

  

2 Aerial Duels 8

1 Won 3

50% Success Rate 38%

0 Defensive Errors 0

0 Leading to a Goal 0

  

 Last Meeting 

11 May 2014

1-0 Kevin Nolan 46'

2-0 Kevin Nolan 48'

  

4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

Adrián - Brad Guzan

Guy Demel - Matthew Lowton (56')

James Collins - Nathan Baker

James Tomkins - Ciaran Clark

George McCartney - Ryan Bertrand (74')

Mark Noble - Ashley Westwood

Matthew Taylor - Fabian Delph

Stewart Downing - Andreas Weimann (71')

(68') Kevin Nolan - Leandro Bacuna

(74') Matt Jarvis - Gabriel Agbonlahor

(46') Carlton Cole - Christian Benteke

 Subs 

Jussi Jääskeläinen - Jed Steer

(74') Winston Reid - Joe Bennett (74')

Roger Johnson - Karim El Ahmadi

Pablo Armero - Yacouba Sylla

Jack Collison - Marc Albrighton (56')

(68') Antonio Nocerino - Nicklas Helenius

(46') Marco Borriello - Grant Holt (71')

 Absentees 

 Injured/Doubtful 

West Ham United: Winston Reid, Guy Demel, Andy Carroll

Aston Villa: Alan Hutton, Fabian Delph, Libor Kozak

 Suspensions 

West Ham United: 

Aston Villa: Christian Benteke

  Opposition Last Time Out (League)

vs Tottenham Hotspur

 Goals Scored: 1

 Goals Conceded: 2

 Starting Formation: 4-3-2-1

  Brad Guzan

  Matthew Lowton  Ron Vlaar  Nathan Baker  Aly Cissokho (92')

  Carlos Sánchez  Tom Cleverley  Ashley Westwood

  Charles N'Zogbia (74')  Andreas Weimann (85')

  Christian Benteke (S/O 65')

 subs:

Sha Given

  Ciaran Clark

  Kieran Richardson (85')

  Joe Cole

  Jack Grealish

  Gabriel Agbonlahor (74')

  Darren Bent (92')

  

 Best Player: Matthew Lowton(SR: 7.5)

 Worst Player: Christian Benteke(SR: 5.6)

  

 Top 5's (Min 5 Apps) 

 Goals Scored 

Diafra Sakho 6 - 3 Andreas Weimann

Enner Valencia 3 - 2 Gabriel Agbonlahor

Carlton Cole 2 -                          

Morgan Amalfitano 2 -                                    

Stewart Downing 2 -                                 

 Assists 

Stewart Downing 4 - 1 Charles N'Zogbia

James Tomkins 2 - 1 Kieran Richardson

Aaron Cresswell 2 - 1 Andreas Weimann

Enner Valencia 2 -                                

Mauro Zárate 1 -                             

 Passing Accuracy 

Mark Noble 87% - 89% Tom Cleverley

Stewart Downing 84% - 83% Ashley Westwood

Carl Jenkinson 84% - 83% Fabian Delph

Winston Reid 83% - 83% Philippe Senderos

James Tomkins 81% - 81% Ron Vlaar

 Chances Created per 90 

Stewart Downing 2.41 - 1.71 Ashley Westwood

Aaron Cresswell 1.3 - 1.01 Tom Cleverley

Mark Noble 1.29 - 1 Darren Bent

Alex Song 1 - 0.99 Charles N'Zogbia

Diafra Sakho 0.65 - 0.92 Andreas Weimann

 Successful Dribbles per 90 

Enner Valencia 1.7 - 2.57 Fabian Delph

Alex Song 1 - 1.11 Gabriel Agbonlahor

Morgan Amalfitano 0.94 - 0.99 Charles N'Zogbia

Diafra Sakho 0.81 - 0.88 Alan Hutton

Cheikhou Kouyaté 0.8 - 0.55 Carlos Sanchez

 Tackles Won per 90 

Cheikhou Kouyaté 2.87 - 2.59 Tom Cleverley

Alex Song 2.84 - 1.91 Carlos Sanchez

Morgan Amalfitano 2.58 - 1.75 Alan Hutton

Mark Noble 1.88 - 1.31 Andreas Weimann

Carl Jenkinson 1.88 - 1.13 Nathan Baker

 Aerial Duels Won per 90 

James Collins 4.67 - 3.01 Carlos Sanchez

James Tomkins 3.71 - 2.71 Nathan Baker

Diafra Sakho 3.55 - 2 Darren Bent

Winston Reid 3.35 - 1.73 Gabriel Agbonlahor

Cheikhou Kouyaté 3.03 - 1.72 Aly Cissokho

 Manager 

Sam Allardyce - Paul Lambert

19/10/1954 DOB 07/08/1969

60 Age 45

  

 Playing Career 

Bolton Wanderers Main Club St. Mirren

231 Appearances 227

24 Goals 14

  

9 Total Clubs 5

512 Appearances 574

43 Goals 35

  

England National Team Scotland

0 Caps 40

  

 Managerial Career 

Preston North End First Managerial Role Livingston

30/09/1992 Start Date 01/06/2005

22y 1m 8d Experience 9y 5m 7d

  

7 Sides Managed 5

2 League Titles 1

0 Cup Wins 0

  

39.9% Win % 39.7%

354 Won 168

232 Drawn 98

301 Lost 157

  

 Longest Role (excl. Current) 

Bolton Wanderers Club Norwich City

19/10/1999 Appointed 18/08/2009

29/04/2007 Left 02/06/2012

7y 6m 9d Time in Charge 2y 9m 14d

0 League Titles 1

0 Cup Wins 0

  

41.2% Win % 49.2%

153 Won 70

104 Drawn 35

114 Lost 37

  

 Current Club 

01/06/2011 Appointed 02/06/2012

3y 5m 8d Time in Charge 2y 5m 6d

  

0 League Titles 0

0 Cup Wins 0

  

40.1% Win % 30.6%

59 Won 30

34 Drawn 20

54 Lost 48

Stoke City vs West Ham United

Saturday 1st November 2014

15:00

Britannia Stadium

Stoke City vs West Ham United

Analysis

The longer our good streak continues the longer I'll be saying it, but this is a weekend where we will learn a lot about this West Ham side.

After defeating the reigning Champions last weekend, we now head over to the Potteries for the sort of test that many pretenders to the top half will crumble at.

Stoke have always been a very good side at the Britannia, incredibly difficult to beat, very physical, and capable of punishing teams.

This will be a tough game for West Ham, and one we would do very well to get something out of.

Key Player

Stoke are a side without any real stars or obvious stand out players.

Marko Arnautovic and Victor Moses can both be potent attacking sources, but are also a bit hit and miss. Ryan Shawcross and Marc Wilson are developing a formidable partnership in the heart of defence, whilst Glenn Whelan and Charlie Adam are both underrated midfielders in this division, capable of picking passes and mixing it in defence.

However, arguably the most talented player at the club is Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

The former Portsmouth goalkeeper has been a consistently outstanding performer since moving to Stoke in 2010 as a 23 year old, and is now regularly linked with moves to some of Europe's top clubs - Juventus and Real Madrid have been mentioned in recent months.

What has been particularly impressive about Begovic, is his desire to claim balls into the box. Many goalkeepers struggle with crosses and long balls in the air, not knowing whether to come and catch, to punch, or to back off and leave it to somebody else. Begovic doesn't seem to have that issue, as he comes and catches as much as possible.

The chart below shows his successful and unsuccessful claims since the start of the 2012/13 season. Over that time, Begovic has claimed a remarkable 232 balls into the box, 2.9 per game, with an astounding success rate of 97%. 

But the Bosnian is more than just a presence in the air. He is also a fantastic shot stopper, saving points for Stoke on many occasions.

The images below shows the saves Begovic has made since the start of last season. You can see that he has made 79 saves in 41 appearances, at a rate of 1.93 per game. In this time, he has kept 11 clean sheets (one every 3.7 games), and has conceded 46 goals (1.12 per game).

http://www.squawka.com/players/asmir-begovic/

Stoke's defence has a reputation for being pretty impenetrable at times, but the real challenge is once you get past the back four and come face to face with one of the best goalkeepers in the modern game. 

How do you stop Stoke?

Stoke are a side that tend to pick up the majority of their points at home, with the Britannia becoming a bit of a fortress since they were promoted to the Premier League.

This season though, they have played four home league games, winning and losing two a piece, and have also lost a Capital One Cup game there (to Southampton on Wednesday night).

So, how did Aston Villa and Leicester City head home from one of the most notoriously difficult away fixtures with three points each, and a clean sheet?

Let's start with the clean sheets. Stoke have a reputation for getting the ball into the box quickly, either via long balls into a target man, or through utilising wingplay. In order to deal with the onslaught of balls into the box, both Villa and Leicester made a large number of clearances from within their own box.

The images below show Villa's 32 clearances (left) and Leicester's 50 (right). You'll notice that a large number of clearances are marked with blue arrows on the images. This denotes a headed clearance, demonstrating that Stoke often go for aerial balls into the box, particularly when chasing a game.

http://epl.squawka.com/stoke-city-vs-aston-villa/

http://epl.squawka.com/stoke-city-vs-leicester-city/

In attack both teams, again, took a similar approach.

Although Stoke possess one of the most resolute defences in the division, they do not possess much pace. As a result, Villa and Leicester attempted a high volume of take ons in attacking areas, isolated defenders and running at them.

The images below again show Villa on the left, and Leicester on the right.

You'll notice that, Villa attempted a higher number within the penalty area, whilst Leicester operated outside the box and down the flanks.

For Villa's goal, both Charles N'Zogbia and Andreas Weimann took on defenders, bundling through tackles on the way to Weimann scoring. And for Leicester's goal, the Foxes worked the ball wide to Paul Konchesky who rolled across the six yard box for Leonardo Ulloa to tap in.

Both goals were indicative of the approaches taken: run at them with speed, and get the ball into the box. This is a tactic that should suit West Ham's current approach to the game, and one that will hopefully pay dividend for the Hammers.

Weaknesses

I've already mentioned the lack of pace in defence for Stoke, but that is something that they actually cope with rather well generally, so isn't their main weakness.

The area of the game the Potters most struggle with is at the other end of the pitch, and putting the ball in the back of the net.

Stoke tend to play with a variation on the 4-3-3 formation, with one striker and a couple of wingers. This season, their main six forwards have attempted 44 shots between them in 9 appearances - a combined rate of 4.9 shots per game.

However, they have only hit the target with 32% of those shots, and have scored just 5 goals between them, at a conversion rate of just 11%.

It is an issue that Stoke have experienced in the past, but one that Mark Hughes probably felt he had addressed last season. Last year, Stoke were the 10th highest scoring side in the division. So far this season, they are down to 15th.

It is still early in the season and, of course, all of this could change, but as it stands Stoke are struggling to put the ball in the back of the net.

Conclusion

An away trip to the Potteries is never easy.

West Ham will have a serious job on to get through a very successful defence and talented goalkeeper, and will have to deal with a couple of tricky customers at the other end too.

Coming away with anything will be a very good return, and a victory would be a massive achievement.

But optimism is high in East London, and let's hope that con continue after the weekend.

 Head to Head 

37% Head to Head Win % 40%

33 Won 36

21 Drawn 21

36 Lost 33

106 Goals Scored 129

129 Goals Conceded 106

 Recent Form (excl. Friendlies) 

W W L W L L Last 6 D W L W W W

10 Goals Scored 13

9 Goals Conceded 6

  

L W L W W L Home/Away Form L L W D L W

8 Goals Scored 9

6 Goals Conceded 9

  

 Form Player (excl. GK) 

 (Last 6 League) 

Victor Moses - Stewart Downing

6 Appearances 6

540 Minutes Played 540

  

161 Sum Squawka Performance Score 213

27 Average Squawka Performance Rating 36

  

107 Passes Attempted 272

89 Completed 232

83% Success Rate 85%

  

14 Chances Created 20

3 Assists 3

  

7 Attempts on Goal 8

4 On Target 3

0 Goals 0

36 Take Ons Attempted 9

21 Successful Take Ons 5

58% Success Rate 56%

  

16 Tackles Made 9

10 Successful Tackles 3

63% Success Rate 33%

  

6 Interceptions 3

4 Clearances 9

0 Blocks 0

2 Defensive Actions Per Game 2

  

10 Aerial Duels 2

2 Won 1

20% Success Rate 50%

0 Defensive Errors 0

0 Leading to a Goal 0

  

 Last Meeting 

11 May 2014

0-1 Andy Carroll 5'

1-1 Peter Odemwingie 32'

2-1 Marko Arnautovic 69'

3-1 Peter Odemwingie 79

4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

Asmir Begovic - Adrián

Geoff Cameron - Guy Demel

Ryan Shawcross - James Tomkins

Marc Wilson - Winston Reid

(14') Erik Pieters - George McCartney

Steven N'Zonzi - Mark Noble

Glenn Whelan - Antonio Nocerino (76')

Peter Odemwingie - Stewart Downing (62')

Stephen Ireland - Kevin Nolan

Marko Arnautovic - Mohamed Diamé

Peter Crouch - Andy Carroll (83')

 Subs 

Thomas Sorenson - Jussi Jääskeläinen

Ryan Shotton - James Collins

(14') Marc Muniesa - Pablo Armero (83')

Andy Wilkinson - Matthew Taylor

Wilson Palacios - Matt Jarvis

Matthew Etherington - Joe Cole (62')

John Guidetti - Carlton Cole (76')

 Absentees 

 Injured/Doubtful 

Stoke City: Robert Huth, Glenn Whelan, Peter Odemwingie

West Ham United: Gey Demel, Mauro Zárate, Andy Carroll, Diafra Sakho

 Suspensions 

Stoke City: Phil Bardsley, Peter Crouch

West Ham United: 

  Opposition Last Time Out (League)

vs Southampton

 Goals Scored: 0

 Goals Conceded: 1

 Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1

  Asmir Begovic

  Phil Bardsley  Ryan Shawcross  Marc Wilson  Erik Pieters

  Steven N'Zonzi  Charlie Adam (53')

  Jonathan Walters (69')  Geoff Cameron  Victor Moses (79')

  Peter Crouch

 subs:

Thomas Sorenson

  Robert Huth

  Steve Sidwell

  Oussama Assaidi (79')

  Marko Arnautovic (69')

  Bojan Krkic

  Mame Biram Diouf (53')

  

 Best Player: Phil Bardsley(SR: 7.6)

 Worst Player: Oussama Assaidi(SR: 5.9)

  

 Top 5's (Min 5 Apps) 

 Goals Scored 

Charlie Adam 2 - 6 Diafra Sakho

Mame Biram Diouf 2 - 2 Carlton Cole

Jonathan Walters 2 - 2 Enner Valencia

Peter Crouch 1 - 2 Morgan Amalfitano

Ryan Shawcross 1 - 1 Mauro Zárate

 Assists 

Victor Moses 3 - 3 Stewart Downing

Oussama Assaidi 1 - 2 James Tomkins

Erik Pieters 1 - 2 Aaron Cresswell

Peter Crouch 1 - 1 Mauro Zárate

                         - 1 Carl Jenkinson

 Passing Accuracy 

Oussama Assaidi 89% - 87% Mark Noble

Glenn Whelan 89% - 86% Carl Jenkinson

Steven N'Zonzi 85% - 84% Winston Reid

Victor Moses 83% - 84% Alex Song

Erik Pieters 83% - 83% Stewart Downing

 Chances Created per 90 

Marko Arnautovic 2.41 - 2.56 Stewart Downing

Victor Moses 2 - 1.44 Aaron Cresswell

Glenn Whelan 1.15 - 1.43 Mark Noble

Peter Crouch 0.94 - 0.8 Alex Song

Steven N'Zonzi 0.89 - 0.65 Diafra Sakho

 Successful Dribbles per 90 

Victor Moses 4 - 2 Enner Valencia

Steven N'Zonzi 2.77 - 1.07 Morgan Amalfitano

Marko Arnautovic 2.18 - 1 Alex Song

Jonathan Walters 2.17 - 0.95 Cheikhou Kouyaté

Mame Biram Diouf 2.11 - 0.71 Mark Noble

 Tackles Won per 90 

Charlie Adam 4 - 2.85 Cheikhou Kouyaté

Oussama Assaidi 2.77 - 2.81 Alex Song

Erik Pieters 2.18 - 2.43 Mark Noble

Victor Moses 2.17 - 1.62 Diafra Sakho

Phil Bardsley 2.11 - 1.32 Carl Jenkinson

 Aerial Duels Won per 90 

Peter Crouch 8.56 - 3.55 Diafra Sakho

Jonathan Walters 3.81 - 3.5 James Tomkins

Ryan Shawcross 3.56 - 3.33 Winston Reid

Marc Wilson 3.11 - 2.85 Cheikhou Kouyaté

Erik Pieters 2.89 - 2.09 Carlton Cole

 Manager 

Mark Hughes - Sam Allardyce

01/11/1963 DOB 19/10/1954

50 Age 60

  

 Playing Career 

Manchester United Main Club Bolton Wanderers

473 Appearances 231

163 Goals 24

  

7 Total Clubs 9

799 Appearances 512

224 Goals 43

  

Wales National Team England

72 Caps 0

  

 Managerial Career 

Wales First Managerial Role Preston North End

04/08/1999 Start Date 30/09/1992

15y 2m 21d Experience 22y 0m 24d

  

6 Sides Managed 7

0 League Titles 2

0 Cup Wins 0

  

38.2% Win % 39.9%

164 Won 354

113 Drawn 232

152 Lost 301

  

 Longest Role (excl. Current) 

Blackburn Rovers Club Bolton Wanderers

15/09/2004 Appointed 19/10/1999

03/06/2008 Left 29/04/2007

3y 8m 17d Time in Charge 7y 6m 9d

0 League Titles 0

0 Cup Wins 0

  

43.6% Win % 41.2%

82 Won 153

47 Drawn 104

59 Lost 114

  

 Current Club 

30/05/2013 Appointed 01/06/2011

1y 4m 26d Time in Charge 3y 4m 24d

  

0 League Titles 0

0 Cup Wins 0

  

38.1% Win % 40.4%

21 Won 59

14 Drawn 33

20 Lost 54