West Ham’s board have voiced concerns that Aston Villa will be ‘distracted’ when they face relegation rivals Spurs this weekend – but are they right to be worried?
The stakes have arguably never been higher for West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur than they are right now, so every game – and every permutation – is absolutely huge.
Injuries, suspensions, form, momentum, what day you play in relation to one another and of course the opposition – and what they have to play for – all comes into the equation as the Hammers battle bitter rivals Spurs to stay in the Premier League.
West Ham’s survival hopes have been boosted by a double Spurs injury blow in their narrow win over Wolves.
Are West Ham board right to worry about Spurs facing ‘distracted’ Villa?
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side maintained a two-point gap to Tottenham with their late 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday.
It is Brentford up next for the Irons on Saturday while Spurs are away at Champions League-chasing Aston Villa 24 hours later.
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West Ham are in a precarious position with 4 games to go! 😬
That gives West Ham the perfect opportunity to pile pressure on Spurs by widening the gap to five points with a victory.
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Tottenham will be worried as Brentford have only won once in their last seven games.
On paper Aston Villa away looks a much tougher assignment for Roberto De Zerbi’s Spurs.
But in a Hammers News exclusive, West Ham’s owners voiced fears Villa will be ‘distracted’ against Tottenham.
The Hammers hierarchy are concerned Unai Emery’s side will be impacted by their Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
Villa go to Forest on Thursday night before taking on Tottenham at Villa Park less than 72 hours later.
Depending on the outcome of the first leg, it could well dictate Emery’s team selection and priorities against Tottenham with the home leg on the horizon the following Thursday.
Astonishing Villa record will delight West Ham and worry Spurs
Many managers feel the demands of Thursday-Sunday European and Premier League football is among the most difficult to juggle.
Teams playing in Europe on Thursdays often struggle in the league in the following fixture.
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Let’s look at the facts, though, as we explore whether the West Ham board right to worry about Spurs facing a ‘distracted’ Aston Villa?
The short answer is ‘no’ because Villa’s astonishing record will delight West Ham and have Tottenham terrified.
Here we look at all of Villa’s league results following games in Europe this season.
After playing Bologna at home in Europa League game week one in September, Villa comfortably beat Fulham 3-1 at Villa Park three days later.
Europa League group game week two saw Villa win 2-0 away at Feyenoord and 72 hours later they beat Burnley at home 2-1.
Game week three saw Aston Villa lose away to Go Ahead Eagles. Encouragingly for West Ham, though, Emery’s men bounced back to beat Man City 1-0 in the Premier League that weekend.
After beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 at home in game week four, Villa then smashed Bournemouth 4-0 at home three days on.
Villa’s superb league form post European games continued in game week five as they beat Young Boys 2-1 before seeing off Wolves 1-0 at the weekend.
West Ham were the next to suffer the effects of Aston Villa’s remarkable form after Europa League games.
European group game week six saw Emery’s side beat Basel away 2-1 before a 3-2 victory over the Hammers less than 72 hours later.
After a break over winter, Villa’s remarkable powers of recovery and squad balance continued in game week seven as they beat Fenerbahce 1-0 away then came back to the UK and won 2-0 on the road at Newcastle.
The only blot on the copybook in the group stage came after the final game week eight. Aston Villa beat RB Salzburg 3-2 at home before losing 1-0 at Villa Park to 10-man Brentford.
Onto the knockouts and West Ham’s concerns had slightly more foundation.
Villa won 1-0 away at Lille in the last 16 first leg but lost to 3-1 to Man United three days later.
West Ham would suffer again, though, when Emery’s side got their record back on track as they won the second leg against Lille 2-0 before beating the Hammers by the same scoreline in the league a few days on.
After a 3-1 away win at Bologna in the quarter-final first leg, Villa drew 1-1 with Forest next.
Tottenham’s next opponents then followed up a 4-0 thrashing of the Italians in the second leg by scoring four again, in a 4-3 win at home against Sunderland.
It is fair to say the fears of West Ham’s owners that Villa will be distracted due to Europe when playing Spurs are very much unfounded based on this season’s results.
Because Villa have lost just two of their 12 Premier League games following Europa League matches, winning nine and drawing one.
A remarkable record that will give the Hammers encouragement and strike fear into Tottenham Hotspur ahead of another crunch game with four to play.