By Joe Ellis

18th Feb, 2022 | 8:10am

West Ham confused with Aston Villa, Benoit Assou-Ekotto's hilarious mix up revealed

For those watching the Premier League for the first time, it can be confusing when West Ham play in the same colours as other teams.

Aston Villa and Burnley also play in Claret and even though they won’t wear it against each other, it can still be bewildering to see multiple claret and blue on Match of the Day.

Surprisingly, however, it isn’t just newcomers to watching football that can get confused, but players too.

Former Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto has revealed that he would often get fuddled between the Hammers and the Villains and need to be told by his teammates who he was playing.

“Sometimes when I played professionally I didn’t know really what was going on,” Assou-Ekotto told The Athletic.

“For example, West Ham and Aston Villa wear the same kind of shirt and sometimes I would go there and be like, ‘OK, it’s Aston Villa’ and I’d have to be told, ‘No, it’s West Ham’.”

Necessary confusion

It perhaps isn’t surprising that of all the players, it was Assou-Ekotto who got these kinds of things mixed up considering he openly admitted he played for money and not the love of the game back in 2010 [The Guardian].

It might get newcomers crossed in two minds but West Ham, Aston Villa and Burnley have played in the famous claret and blue for as long as any living fan can remember.

Neither of the three teams could even briefly consider a change without a severe backlash from the club’s supporters and that means people will have to get over the confusion.

Could you imagine the Irons walking out at the London Stadium in their brand new green home kit?

It would just be plain wrong and while it might be tricky at first for people who haven’t watched football before, they will learn and the Premier League cannot cower to those people.

In other West Ham news, the first round of negotiations are set to take place between the board and this first-team regular.