Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. West Ham United – Fri, Jan 10th 2025, 20:00
Aston Villa will celebrate the club’s 150th anniversary at Villa Park on Friday evening, opening their Emirates FA Cup campaign with a third-round visit of West Ham United.
The evening will see Birmingham and Aston communities come together in B6 to honour 150 years of our famous club, with Unai Emery’s side looking to make a winning start to this season’s competition.
The Villans also look to make it back-to-back victories in all competitions, after a 2-1 triumph in the Premier League over Leicester City last weekend.
They face a Hammers outfit under the stewardship of Graham Potter for the very first time. The former Chelsea boss replaced the outgoing Julen Lopetegui in the dugout at the London Stadium on Thursday.
The Irons have won just one of their last five matches in all competitions, with Villa currently unbeaten in last four meetings between the two sides.
Stats
Villa will be hopeful of reaching the FA Cup fourth round in consecutive campaigns for the first time since doing so in 2014/15 and 2015/16. They beat Championship side Middlesbrough at this stage last season, ending a seven-game run of consecutive defeats in the third round of the competition.
West Ham could lose two consecutive matches against Villa in all competitions for the first time since conceding a league double in 2010/11.
These two sides have not met in the FA Cup since March 1980, with West Ham triumphing 1-0 in a quarter-final tie on their way to winning the entire competition.
Villa have lost each of their last six home games in the competition.
Previous FA Cup Clashes
The two sides have faced one another three times before in this competition, with Villa currently edging the head to head FA Cup statistics by two wins to West Ham’s one.
The first-ever meeting between the Villans and the Irons was an FA Cup clash, way back in 1913, when Villa went on to lift the famous trophy for the fifth time. The Hammers visited Villa Park in the second round, and left having been dealt a 5-0 defeat, goals from Harold Halse (2), Clem Stephenson, Harry Hampton and William Morris sealed the hosts’ passage through to round three.
The next FA Cup meeting would also go the way of the Villans, again at Villa Park, some 64 years down the line in 1977. Goals from John Deehan (2) and Dennis Mortimer sealed a 3-0 win for Villa and progression to round five.
And the most recent FA Cup meeting between Villa and West Ham came three years later in 1980, this time going the way of the Hammers. Ron Saunders’ side travelled to Upton Park in the quarter-finals, though bowed out of the competition thanks to Ray Stewart’s solitary strike.
The Last Meeting
Villa made a winning start to the 2024/25 Premier League campaign with a 2-1 win at the London Stadium, in the last meeting between the two sides.
Amadou Onana marked his debut for the club four minutes in, on the opening day of the campaign, crashing home a Youri Tielemans corner at the front post to give Emery’s men an early lead.
Lucas Paquetá’s penalty dragged Lopetegui’s side level before the break to send the teams in level at half-time, but substitute Jhon Durán climbed off the bench to steer home the winner 11 minutes from time, to send the travelling Villans behind the goal into raptures, and back up to Birmingham with three points to start the season.
Team News
Unai Emery confirmed pre-match he would be without captain John McGinn, who was withdrawn just 19 minutes into last weekend’s win over Leicester with injury.
Morgan Rogers is back available for the Villans, having served his one-match suspension against Leicester last time out, though Jhon Durán is still out, serving the last of his three-game ban. Pau Torres remains Villa’s long-term absentee, with a broken metatarsal sustained against Brighton & Hove Albion in the final outing of 2024.
Graham Potter is likely to be without Jean-Clair Todibo for his first game in charge, after the defender limped off in their defeat to Manchester City, with Lukasz Fabianski still sidelined through concussion.
Emerson Palmieri is also a doubt, having missed the Man City game through injury, while Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio remain long-term absentees.
Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts
“Of course, West Ham, they have very good players. It’s a good club as well. We are going to respect West Ham and we are going to respect [Graham Potter], because he was successful when he was coaching before here in England. He has experiences, and I think he is going to do good work.” – Unai Emery
“I can’t wait to get started on Friday night, in what promises to be a great FA Cup tie at Aston Villa. Villa Park is always a great place to go. It’s an opportunity for us to learn about the team, and to try to win the game. We want to get through to the next round – that’s the aim and the ambition.” – Graham Potter
