Aston Villa vs. West Ham United – EPL, February 3, 2021

Aston Villa has not been the same team since the turn of the year – and a lot of that has to do with the interruptions caused by COVID. Now the club needs to get back into the mix, with West Ham up next on Wednesday.

West Ham has been one of the clubs that has really improved in the EPL in the last few months – and will be confident of going to Villa Park and coming away with something here.

It is a sign of how much better West Ham has been since the turn of the year how the oddsmakers have priced this fixture. Aston Villa is still the favorite to win this one at home, but the prices are very close. With some very good players on both sides, the draw bet might actually be the best value.

Aston Villa was not back to its best at the weekend, but the 1-0 win away at Southampton was a huge result for a team that had not been picking up enough points in recent weeks. Dean Smith’s side benefited from some strange VAR decisions but probably deserved the win in the end.

It was only the second win since Boxing Day for Villa – although there have been a few postponements in that time. The good news for the home side is that there are very few injury worries in the squad now, so an assault on the upper reaches on the table could be on the cards.

West Ham lost for the first time in seven EPL games at the weekend but was probably unfortunate to come up against a Liverpool side that had been frustrated in its previous games. Most of the reports from that game focused on the incredible sweeping goal finished off by Mo Salah, but Liverpool did dominate proceedings without ever really peppering the West Ham goal.

The defeat might well be just a momentarily blip for the Hammers, though, as they look to be a vastly improved team. David Moyes has been able to ship out underperforming players and is now getting the best out of his squad. Tomas Soucek has been a particular success story, but the entire team is looking far more dangerous now. Villa will be in for a rough ride on Wednesday.

I’ve decided to go with the draw here, mainly because of the better odds offered by BetOnline. Aston Villa looks like it is still just getting back to the same level of the earlier in the season, while West Ham has been one of the more impressive sides in 2021. A well-fought out draw could well be the outcome here.