By Conor Hogan

West Ham fell to a 3-2 defeat against Aston Villa at London Stadium on Sunday.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s side took the lead after just 29 seconds, with Mateus Fernandes opening the scoring following excellent pressing from the Hammers’ frontline. The advantage didn’t last long, however, as an own goal from Konstantinos Mavropanos levelled the game inside the first ten minutes.

Despite spells of pressure from Unai Emery’s visitors, it was West Ham who struck next. Freddie Potts’ effort fell kindly to Jarrod Bowen, who finished from close range to restore the hosts’ lead.

The Irons went into half-time ahead, but Villa responded strongly after the break. Youri Tielemans’ cross picked out Morgan Rogers, whose strike brought the visitors level once again. The goal appeared to unsettle West Ham, and although Bowen thought he had scored his second on 68 minutes after being played in by Lucas Paquetá, the effort was ruled out for offside.

Ten minutes later, Villa’s comeback was complete, as West Ham failed to close down Rogers, who’s powerful strike from outside the box flew past Alphonse Areola to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the game.

West Ham struggled to respond in the closing stages. Callum Wilson made little impact off the bench, as did Tomáš Souček, Mohamadou Kanté and Guido Rodríguez, and Villa held on to claim all three points.

Nuno and Hammers fans will be extremely disappointed to not take at least a point away from this game – dropping points from winning positions is becoming a worrying trend under the Portuguese boss. However, for at least 80 minutes of today’s game, West Ham went toe-to-toe with the most in-form team in the country, and looked the better side for much of it.

While West Ham are now without a win in five, they have lost just two of their last seven matches and remain unbeaten away from home since October. Results have been mixed, but this doesn’t look like a side in a relegation battle.

Manchester City are next in what is surely a free-hit game for the Irons, but if they put in a good shift against Pep Guardiola’s side, it might give them the confidence to get big results against Fulham and Brighton before the end of the year.