Michael Owen & Mark Lawrenson agree on outcome of Aston Villa v West Ham
Michael Owen and Mark Lawrenson believe that West Ham will lose for the second time in 2021 when they travel to Villa Park on Wednesday evening.
The former Liverpool players have both predicted back to back defeats for the Hammers, with neither man expecting us to find the net in the midlands.
Writing on the BetVictor Blog, Owen said he thinks Jack Grealish will be the difference between the two sides.
“Aston Villa finally got the win they deserved away to Southampton at the weekend,” he said.
“They come up against a West Ham side who, up until Sunday, were on a four game winning run.
“I don’t think there’s much between these sides. With that in mind, i think it could take a special performance from one player to make the difference. If Jack Grealish continues to play how he has been, I think Villa win it.”
Owen predicts the score to be 2-0 to the home side.
While giving his weekly predictions on the BBC Sport website, Lawrenson said the Villa attack will cause too many problems for our back-line.
He said: “West Ham’s winning run is over and they found it hard against Liverpool on Sunday.
“They didn’t create many chances in the first half and, as the game opened up, it quickly got away from them.
“I am going to go with Villa here. They have played well since returning to action after the coronavirus outbreak at the club in January, and their attack can cause the Hammers problems.”
Lawrenson also predicts a 2-0 scoreline to Villa.
A very important tie
We travel to Villa Park knowing that defeat will see us fall behind our hosts in the race for European football.
Villa can climb above us tonight on goal difference. They have two games in hand to go six points further ahead if they were to pick up more wins.
It’s not just about the race for Europe anymore, either. With Crystal Palace, Leeds and Arsenal all picking up wins over the past couple of weeks, there is now just a six-point gap between us in 5th and Palace in 13th place.
This is one of the most open leagues in recent memory.
A win this evening will take us to 38 points after 22 games played. It would be our best return in the top flight since 1985-86.
Ultimately, Mo Salah as the deciding factor on Sunday, scoring two world-class goals in the second half. We can ill-afford to let another superstar, Jack Grealish, dictate play this evening.
We could be in for a long one, otherwise.
In other West Ham news, here’s how the Hammers could keep Jack Grealish quiet this evening.