Analysis: It’s home sweet home for Aston Villa as Hammers are hammered
“Welcome to Villa Park” declared the message proudly posted by Villa’s social media team alongside a picture of Ollie Watkins shortly after yesterday’s final whistle.
Where visiting teams are concerned right now, it might as well have read Welcome to Hell.
West Ham were the latest opponents to leave B6 beaten after being overpowered by Unai Emery’s rampant team, who have now won 11 straight home league matches.
The club’s best run for 40 years, which began on the first weekend of March, has recently gone into overdrive. In four home matches this season, Villa have plundered 17 goals and conceded only three. Their last two wins, against teams with similar ambitions of gatecrashing the Champions League positions, have been won by an aggregate 10-2 score.
Manchester City might beg to differ but at the moment there really might be no tougher place to go in the Premier League than Villa Park. Yesterday’s scoreline did not flatter Emery’s team.
Back up to fifth, two points off the top, the question now is just how special this season could turn out to be? In the short-term, it only looks promising. Villa play two of their next three league matches at home, with winless Luton the visitors next Sunday. Much as Emery’s post-match comments might have been a creditable attempt at diffusing the hype, it really is becoming tough to keep a lid on it.
