Aston Villa 1-4 West Ham United

Ten-man Aston Villa were undone 4-1 by West Ham United as the visitors scored twice late on at Villa Park.

Ollie Watkins cancelled out Ben Johnson’s early strike to register his second goal of the season, only for Declan Rice to hand the visitors a 2-1 half-time advantage.

The game’s key turning point came five minutes after the break as Ezri Konsa saw red for a foul on Jarrod Bowen, with the centre-back deemed to have denied a goalscoring opportunity.

Villa came close to an equaliser when Watkins headed against the crossbar but the Hammers ended any hopes of a fightback as Pablo Fornals registered a third in the 80^th minute and Bowen added another shortly afterwards.

Defeat extended Villa’s winless sequence against West Ham to seven meetings stretching back to 2015, with the in-form visitors continuing their unbeaten away record this season.

Villa showed four changes to their starting XI from defeat at Arsenal last Friday – with Leon Bailey handed his first start for the club alongside Kortney Hause, Marvelous Nakamba and Jacob Ramsey.

Tyrone Mings and Axel Tuanzebe were named among the substitutes while Douglas Luiz and Danny Ings were absent from the matchday 20 as head coach Dean Smith battled injury and illness among his ranks.

Prior to kick-off, the 41,874 inside Villa Park observed a minute’s silence in tribute ahead of Remembrance Day.

It was the visitors who took an early lead, Rice spraying a ball out wide to the right for Johnson, who cut inside sent a left-footed strike beyond Emi Martínez.

The hosts then lost Ramsey to injury after 15 minutes, Ashley Young introduced off the bench for his 200^th Villa appearance, before Bailey tested Lukasz Fabianksi and Matty Cash headed away Bowen’s goalbound strike.

And Villa were level in the 34^th minute, John McGinn, wearing the captain’s armband, received the ball on the right and fed Emi Buendía, who got to the byline and cut back for Watkins to slot home.

Michail Antonio saw his strike deflected on to the roof of the net before the Hammers regained their lead, Rice sending a low effort through a crowd of bodies that nestled firmly in the bottom corner.

McGinn then headed off target from Matt Targett’s cross as the Villans trailed at the break.

Villa’s afternoon became tougher five minutes after the restart as Konsa saw red for a foul on Bowen and denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Smith introduced Mings for his 100^th appearance for the club and, despite the numerical disadvantage, Villa almost equalised when Watkins headed against the crossbar from McGinn’s cross.

Martínez got down smartly to palm away Rice’s fierce free-kick in the 69^th minute before Smith made his final change and brought on Anwar El Ghazi.

Fornals was booked for a challenge on Nakamba, as were Bowen and McGinn amid a heated aftermath.

And both United players were involved just minutes later as the visitors added a third on the counter-attack, Bowen breaking clear only to be denied by a superb parried save from Martínez before Fornals slotted home the rebound.

West Ham then added a fourth in the 84^th minute as substitute Manuel Lanzini fed Bowen and he converted from close range.