West Ham United 1-1 Aston Villa

Nicolò Zaniolo came off the bench to rescue a draw for Aston Villa against West Ham United at London Stadium.

The Italian stabbed home an equaliser with 11 minutes left, running on to the end of Moussa Diaby’s pull back.

It was just reward for the visitors’ efforts during the 90 minutes, which saw them dominate possession and call Alphonse Areola into several saves.

The Hammers had taken a 29^th-minute lead through Michail Antonio, who also saw a goal ruled out for handball minutes after the restart.

And VAR intervened once again in Villa’s favour deep in stoppage time to determine that Tomáš Souček had handled the ball over the line.

A draw in the capital leaves Villa fourth in the table heading into the international break.

Unai Emery paired Jhon Durán and Ollie Watkins up front in east London, with the former making his first start for the club in the top flight hot on the heels of his goalscoring cameo against Ajax in midweek.

Villa’s set-up helped them make a strong start to the match, controlling possession and probing for openings before Watkins called Areola into a save at his near post.

West Ham’s goalkeeper was working again soon after when Morgan Rogers drove forward and looked to place an effort before the hosts responded and saw Souček deflect Lucas Paquetá’s shot narrowly wide.

It was Emi Martínez’s turn to make a save on 26 minutes when he showed good reactions to parry Vladimír Coufal’s deflected drive to safety.

But there was nothing the Argentine could do to prevent his side falling behind three minutes later as Antonio met Coufal’s cross with a diving header and sent the ball into the bottom corner.

Mohammed Kudus threatened to add a second for the Hammers and Watkins sent an effort bobbling wide, but it remained 1-0 as the half-time whistle sounded.

Diaby and Matty Cash emerged for the second half as the away side made a double switch, taking off Durán and Lenglet, but they found themselves 2-0 down when Antonio turned home Jarrod Bowen’s corner less than three minutes after the restart.

However, a reprieve was forthcoming in the form of a VAR check that revealed the striker handled the ball into the net.

Two further changes followed just past the hour mark as Villa looked to Zaniolo and Lucas Digne to help them get back on level terms.

A spell of sustained pressure ensued as the home side began to sink deeper, with Youri Tielemans seeing a swerving effort parried away by Areola.

The French goalkeeper was on hand again minutes later to deny Ezri Konsa from close range as the pressure began to build on West Ham’s defence.

Villa finally found a way through with 11 minutes remaining via an incisive counter-attack that saw Diaby pull the ball back after being sent through by Tielemans, with Zaniolo arriving to poke the ball home.

A heroic block from Cash, who flung himself in the way of James Ward-Prowse’s shot, in stoppage time preceded more drama at the death as the Hammers appeared to have scrambled in a late winner.

A six-minute VAR check was needed to determine that Souček had nudged the ball over the line with his forearm.