Exclusive: McAvennie predicts West Ham v Aston Villa, raves about Villa’s ‘Man of the moment’
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie predicts West Ham will win against Aston Villa at the London Stadium on Monday but has warned his former club about Villa star Jack Grealish.
Grealish, 25, has been on fire for the Villans this season, scoring five goals and supplying six assists in nine appearances across all competitions.
However, Dean Smith won’t have Grealish’s partner in crime to choose from on Monday with Ross Barkley expected to miss his side’s trip to East London due to a hamstring injury [Express & Star].
Although McAvennie is a big fan of Grealish’s, he sees Aston Villa returning to the West Midlands empty-handed early next week, predicting West Ham to win 2-1.
“Villa are a wonderful team, they’ve been playing great football,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone.
“They’re a good team so West Ham have got to be at their best.
“Barkley’s a big miss. He’ll be a big loss for them because he and Grealish work very well together but you’ve got to get hold of Grealish. He’s the man of the moment.
“I like him, I like watching him. He’s a good player.
“It’s a big game because West Ham shouldn’t be fearing anyone at the moment.
“I fancy them to nick a win. It’ll be tight but maybe 2-1 to the Hammers.”
It promises to be a great game on Monday night between two teams who have had seriously impressive starts to the Premier League season.
David Moyes’s side might sit in eighth place but they have had some very tough fixtures this term, shining in almost all of them.
As for Villa, they are one point and one place ahead of the Hammers in the league standings but have arguably had a more favourable run of fixtures.
We hope McAvennie’s right but if the Irons are going to get anything out of this game they’ll need to keep a handle on Grealish.
In other West Ham news, Mark Lawrenson has predicted the result of the Hammers’ clash against Aston Villa.