It wasn’t the little Spaniard’s best goal for the Hammers and is unlikely to be the best he will score this season – but it was West Ham’s first goal of the season after drawing in their first three games. 3 Pablo Fornals scored a deflected winner to lift West Ham out of the relegation zoneCredit: PA 3 Fornals’ strike was West Ham’s first Premier League goal of the seasonCredit: Getty 3 Pressure mounts on Steven Gerrard as his side booed at full-timeCredit: Reuters Any sore loser in the Aston Villa camp will point out that it arrived courtesy of a massive fortuitous deflection from Ezri Konsa’s lunging foot, which sent the ball spinning over the helpless Emi Martinez as it looped under his post. But none of that mattered to Fornals and nine of his teammates as they sprinted to wildly celebrate in front of their jubilant fans, with only Lukasz Fabianski remaining in his own half. Now their season can finally begin for real! As for Villa, Steven Gerrard’s side remain in the starting grid waiting for something … anything to inspire them. They may have taken three points in their last home game against Everton, but it was little consolation for their fans who booed them at the end and are sick of the excuses. This one had such a familiar feel to it as did their killer Fornals, who had scored in both games against them last season. Davy Moyes switched to a back four at half-time to get more out of his side, but Gerrard is looking more and more like a man out of ideas. Villa had lost their last four league games against West Ham and had beaten them just once in their last twelve games – seven years ago. FREE BET AND SIGN UP OFFERS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS So the last thing Gerrard needed, hours before kick-off, was to lose one half of his defensive duo when England international Tyrone Mings withdrew from his squad due to illness. Uncertainty at the back has been a feature of Villa’s shaky start to the season and it’s not hard to see why. Incredibly, this was Gerrard’s fifth different centre-half pairing in five games this season as he continued to struggle with his options at the back. Sevilla’s experienced Brazilian Diego Carlos was signed for £26m but tore his Achilles and will be out for around six months, which pretty much sums up his recent fortunes. Unfortunately for Gerrard, the trend continued as he thought his side had landed a flyer here, only to see a brilliantly choreographed corner routine turn to dust. Ollie Watkins and the recalled Philippe Coutinho had started strongly up front and Watkins went close after diving with his shoulder to cut out Jan Kehrer and smashing in a shot that was flicked on by Kurt Zouma for a corner. Lucas Digne’s delivery had plenty of pace and whip and Coutinho stole in at the near post to smash home a point-blank header from the upright. The ball bounced across the face of the goal where Ezri Konsa was first to react and stab it in from the yard. But eagle-eyed lineman Timothy Wood raised his flag in a moment after sensing something was amiss. And VAR confirmed their theory that Digne’s delivery had indeed deflected a fraction beyond the touchline before re-entering to find Coutinho’s forehead. If every official’s vision was this good, there would never be a need for VAR! Villa continued to bang on the door and Coutinho dug in another superb cross but Watkins’ header at the back post found the gloves of Fabianski. Moyes had handed a Hammers debut to Emerson, his new signing from Chelsea, and Gianluca Scamakka was rewarded for his Europa Conference heroics with a first Premier League start. But the £30million Italy international striker’s biggest contribution in a one-sided first half was to desperately parry Douglas Luiz’s delivery for another corner as Villa looked to win the way. Coutinho curled a shot past Fabianski but the Polish keeper handled it expertly before Villa skipper John McGinn broke free at half-time. Moyes had not been helped when Ben Johnson was forced off with a thigh injury and was replaced by Vladimir Kufal. But his hopes of getting Jared Bowen and Fornals on the front foot had failed miserably and his team had sunk deeper and deeper. Declan Rice and Tomas Sucek operated in midfield in front of a back five and it was clear that the Hammers would not be opening their Premier League account for the season this way. Moyes knew he had work to do and it was a case of last, first out for Emerson who was replaced by Said Benrahma at the break as the Hammers boss switched to a back four. Suddenly it was Villa’s makeshift defense who were at the back as Bowen, Benrahma and Fornals poured forward to support Skamaka. John McGinn lost his footing and nearly the first goal when Fornals pounced on his misfortune and pushed Bowen away. The England forward cut inside Callum Chambers but was denied by a sensational sliding tackle as Dean saved the day. Scamacca’s last effort, before being replaced by Michail Antonio, was a low shot that Martinez parried with ease. Villa’s injury curse struck again when Coutinho tweaked his left hamstring and Gerrard tried to inject some life into his side by sending on Amy Buendia and Jacob Ramsey, with Leon Bailly arriving later. But it had to be Fornals who broke the deadlock… and the Hammers’ Prem monster.
