Analysis: Lessons in defeat as Aston Villa fall short at West Ham

And so after three wins where his team appeared to be making significant progress, Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham delivered a reminder of how much further they have to go.

In some respects, the distance does not look too great. Villa’s first of five straight encounters with teams fighting it out for the European places was decided by fine margins. The width of a goalkeeper’s fingertip, to be precise, as West Ham’s Lukasz Fabianski managed to get enough of his on Danny Ings’ 55th minute shot to send it onto the post, while 15 minutes later Emi Martinez could not prevent Andriy Yarmolenko’s effort from nestling in the bottom corner despite getting some contact on the ball.

That acutely emotional moment, in what was Ukraine international’s Yarmolenko’s first action since Russia’s invasion of his homeland, went on to be the story of the afternoon, though it was actually Pablo Fornals’ 82nd minute goal which proved to be the winner after Jacob Ramsey had netted his sixth Premier League goal of the campaign to cause the home side late alarm.

Villa might feel they were unlucky. Gerrard spoke of the match having been decided by “moments” rather than his team being outclassed and as a general assessment it was fair. Yet the boss also accepted how those tiny differences had been forced by the home side’s superior physicality and the fact, when it mattered, the Hammers were just a little bit shrewder and slicker.

That has been a common theme whenever Villa have faced one of the Premier League’s top dogs. At various points they have given Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea a test but come away empty handed. After this latest defeat, their record against the top eight stands at played 11, won one, drawn one, lost nine.

If nothing else the next few weeks offer the chance to improve that record, providing Gerrard with further evidence of what improvements are needed if Villa are to make a serious fist of infiltrating the elite next season. A win at the London Stadium would have put them on the fringes of the race for European football this term. Defeat, coupled with Wolves’ win at Everton, means it is now difficult to envision Villa doing any better than their current ninth place.

That is not to say a first top-half finish for more than a decade would be regarded as an underachievement, particularly in a season which from the moment Jack Grealish set off for Manchester last August has always felt like one of transition.

But increasingly, as the matches tick down, the focus shifts toward the summer and what is likely to be another busy and important transfer window. Gerrard, when quizzed yesterday on how Villa can close the gap to those above, was quick to reference recruitment as a key part of his strategy. It isn’t the first time he has done so in recent weeks and the inference several members of his squad are playing for their futures is impossible to ignore.

Gerrard's praise of Declan Rice was also notable. Villa will certainly not be in the market for a player valued at more than £100million. Yet the poise and presence the England international provides in the middle of the park is precisely what they lack. On Sunday, it could argued he was the difference between the teams and one of Gerrard's primary aims this summer will be finding his own version.

Philippe Coutinho is one player the boss would love to be part of the long-term plan but the Brazil international experienced one of his quietest outings since joining from Barcelona. He wasn’t the only player, on either team, who looked a little jaded. Both had played on Thursday night – the Hammers in Seville – and for the first hour this felt like a survival of the fittest.

Four Villa players required treatment in the opening period, Lucas Digne departing after fewer than 10 minutes with a muscle problem, while the Hammers lost Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell in quick succession early in the second half. It was between those latter two departures Villa almost took the lead. The hosts failed to clear a corner and when the ball fell to Ings he struck a shot which Fabianksi pushed onto the post, the goalkeeper earning the fortune of the ball rolling right back into his grasp.

As a stodgy game finally began to open up, Martinez got the chance to show off his reflexes when he parried Kurt Zouma’s powerful close-range header, Craig Dawson somehow nodding the rebound over the bar.

Villa were losing the ball too easily again but the hosts lacking the poise in the final third to capitalise.

At least that was the case until the 70th minute when Yarmolenko took advantage of the time afforded him by Villa’s backline after receiving Benrahma’s pass to turn and send a left-footed shot beyond Martinez and into the bottom corner.

It was an acutely emotional moment for the forward, who began crying during the celebration as the stadium PA announced “a goal for West Ham and Ukraine”.

But with eight minutes remaining Fornals struck what proved to be the winner. Rice broke out from his own half, side-stepping the challenge of John McGinn, before finding Benrahma to square for his team-mates to send a low shot under Martinez.

Villa, to their credit, kept pushing and after Buendia had been denied by Fabianksi the Argentine squared for Ramsey to slam home his sixth goal of the season.

But it proved too little, too late on a day when Gerrard will have learned plenty.