Aston Villa attempt to turn around opening day misfortunes, key players to watch out for and my score prediction

Aston Villa will begin their 2024/25 Premier League campaign with a trip to the London Stadium to face West Ham United. This game marks the beginning of a new era for West Ham under Julen Lopetegui whilst Unai Emery will start his second full season in charge of the Villans.

Last season saw West Ham finish 9th in the Premier League as well as reaching the Quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League. Villa meanwhile had their best season for many years with a fourth placed finish that resulted in qualification for this season's UEFA Champions League.

Villa's opening day misfortunes

Since Villa's return to the Premier League in 2019, the club have won just one of the five opening weekend fixtures. Villa's first game back in the top flight following their Championship play-off victory over Derby was away at Tottenham Hotspur. John McGinn scored an early goal to give Villa the lead but Spurs were too strong on the day and ran away 3-1 winners.

The pandemic season of 2020/21 saw Villa get their only opening day win in the last five years at home to Sheffield United. An Ezri Konsa goal and an Emi Martinez penalty save on debut gave the Villa the three points and kicked off a very good start to the season that saw Villa top of the table after five matches. However, opening day matches since then have not been pleasant viewing for the Villa fans.

The 2021/22 summer saw the departure of Jack Grealish and the signings of Leon Bailey, Emi Buendia and Danny Ings. Having recouped a large fee for Grealish and used the money to sign a mixture of talented midfielders and a natural goal scorer their was a real sense of positivity that Villa could be pushing for Europe following their midtable finish the year previous. However, the opening day defeat at Watford saw Villa 3-0 down after 70 minutes in what was a shocking display.

The 2022/23 season was Steven Gerrard's first full season in charge of the club. Again, after some promising signings in the summer to add to the recruitment of Philippe Coutinho in January 2022, there was optimism that a good season was on the cards. However, Villa fans were greeted by a familiar feeling on the opening day as Villa put in one of their worst performances in recent years in the 2-0 defeat away at Bournemouth. The Cherries took the lead after just two minutes and from that point Villa didn't look like getting back into the game. It was a sign of things to come for Villa fans who had to endure some poor football under Gerrard's management.

As a result of that poor management, Gerrard lost his job and Villa recruited one of the top managers in world football. Spaniard Unai Emery took over at Villa Park and guided Aston Villa to a 7th place finish and qualification for the UEFA Conference League. The 2023/24 season would go on to be the best in Villa's recent history but began with a monumental defeat at St James' Park. Newcastle took the lead early through new signing Sandro Tonali (his biggest contribution before a ten-month ban from competitive football. Typical, ey?) before Villa new boy Moussa Diaby levelled the scores. Tyrone Mings then suffered a traumatic ACL injury, just days after Emi Buendia had suffered the same fate, and Newcastle went on the crush the Villans 5-1.

If you wanted to know the last time Villa won an opening day fixture in the country's Capital you would have to go back to 17th August 2013. Paul Lambert's Villans (crikey, do we remember those horrendous times?!) walked away from the Emirates Stadium with a 3-1 victory after a Christian Benteke brace and an Antonio Luna strike.

Key players to watch out for at the London Stadium

West Ham have constructed their transfer business very well over the summer and brought in a number of new players. Max Kilman has been signed from Wolves for a fee in the region of €48 million alongside Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jena-Clair Todibo to improve the defence. Meanwhile, Germany forward Niclas Fullkrug and Leeds winger Crysencio Summerville have been recruited to boost the attack.

Crysencio Summerville

The former Leeds winger joined West Ham for a fee of £25 million this summer having torn the Championship apart last season. The Dutch youth international's 19 goals and 9 assists in the second flight last season guided Leeds to the play-off final where they suffered defeat to Southampton. As a result of that misfortune, Summerville was linked to a host of Premier League clubs, including Villa, but it was the Hammers who clinched his signature.

Summerville's tricky dribbling and skill, primarily down the left hand side, will cause Villa several issues and he will be keen to hit the ground running at the London stadium. Villa are likely to play Matty Cash at right-back this afternoon and he will need to be on top form to stop Summerville from running riot down the wing.

Jarrod Bowen

Recently appointed club captain at West Ham, Jarrod Bowen will be looking to start the season the way he finished the last. The 2023/24 season saw Bowen score 16 league goals as well as picking up 6 assists in a brilliant season that saw him gain selection for England's Euro 2024 squad.

Bowen has scored three times against Villa in the last four seasons so certainly knows where the back of the net is when coming up against the Villa defence. As captain of the team and West Ham's star player, Bowen's hard work and ability down the right hand side will again mean Villa's full-backs will need to be on the top of their game.

Amadou Onana

For Villa, new £50 million signing Amadou Onana is likely to play a crucial role this afternoon. West Ham are likely to want to impress their home crowd on the opening weekend and will attack at every given opportunity. Onana's presence in front of the defence and ability to make tackles and break up play could be massively important in Villa's chances of gaining victory.

Onana was one of the stand-out performers from a mixed set of pre-season results for Villa and in the absence of the injured Boubacar Kamara, it will be down to him to provide the stability in midfield.

Ollie Watkins

Villa's main man will be looking to hit the 20 goal mark this season after scoring 19 Premier League goals last term. Watkins was a crucial figure in Villa's Champions League dreams and his goals and assists, 32 in total, was the driving force behind their historic campaign.

The worry for Villa fans will be that Watkins had not featured at all in Villa's pre-season schedule and only returned to training in the last week. Will Watkins be match-ready or will he take time to get going? Thankfully for Villa, Watkins is one of the fittest players at the club and shouldn't need long to knuckle down and resume his business of scoring goals.

My prediction

Given Villa's very poor recent history in terms of opening day fixtures, I worry that this could be a struggle. To be playing away at a team that have made clever signings and will have the 'new manager bounce' is not the ideal way to open their campaign.

Villa have also not won at the London Stadium since West Ham's move from Upton Park in 2016 and without a win away at West Ham at all since April 2011. That day saw Villa come away from Upton Park with a 2-1 victory after goals from Darren Bent and Gabby Agbonlahor gave Villa the three points.

In terms of prediction for this afternoon, my head is telling me that Villa will suffer a narrow defeat, 2-1, whilst my heart as a lifelong fan is of course more optimistic.

UTV