Emerson's header earns West Ham deserved draw against Aston Villa at Villa Park

Newly appointed Hammers manager Graham Potter had endured a challenging record, losing eight of his encounters against Aston Villa as a coach. This disheartening streak began with his first clash against Villa in the FA Cup third round just over two weeks ago, during his tenure with West Ham. Understandably, Potter must have approached the latest face-off with a sense of apprehension, fearing he might be in for another disappointing day. His concerns seemed justified when Jacob Ramsey swiftly handed the hosts an early advantage with a well-taken goal.

His first touch from Ollie Watkins' pass took the ball past Vladimir Coufal before he slotted home into the far corner as Villa dominated the opening 10 minutes.

Despite West Ham's first-half improvement - although they ended it without a shot on target - Villa should have scored again with Youri Tielemans and Watkins both firing wide.

But the game turned for Villa when Tyrone Mings picked up another suspected knee injury. He initially attempted to continue after a seemingly innocuous collision with Mohammed Kudus, but eventually left the field in tears.

Lucas Digne was moved to centre-back in Mings' absence and struggled, with West Ham looking to take advantage in the second half.

They had the better chances after the break too, Ezri Konsa hooking the ball off the line on the hour before the visitors made the deserved breakthrough 10 minutes later.

It was a fine header from Emerson, floating in at the back post to meet Edson Alvarez's right-wing cross. There were questions late on too on whether Alvarez should have been sent off for collecting a second yellow card, but the Mexican escaped another booking.

Potter was then celebrating after what proved to be the final kick of the game when Lucas Paqueta slotted home from a Tomas Soucek pass, but the latter was well offside in the build-up and the flag was raised. It took mere seconds for VAR to agree with the on-field decision.

The point sees West Ham creep further up the table into 13th place. For Aston Villa, they remain four points from the top four although their unbeaten league run at Villa Park now stretches to 11 games. However, there will need to be some improvement on this evidence ahead of their final Champions League game at home to Celtic on Wednesday evening.

More to follow.

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