Match report from Premier League encounter at London Stadium

Jarrod Bowen guides West Ham back into the lead against Aston Villa!

FixturesWest Ham United Vs. Aston Villa - Sun, Dec 14th 2025, 14:00 Unai Emery has named his starting XI for Aston Villa’s Premier League clash with West Ham United on Sunday (ko 2pm). The Villans visit the London Stadium looking to make it nine wins in a row, in their final away outing before Christmas. And Emery has handed a first Premier League start in Villa colours to Victor Lindelöf, with Pau Torres not fit enough to feature. Emi Martínez also remains sidelined, meaning Marco Bizot again deputises in goal, with Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa and Ian Maatsen starting in defence. Youri Tielemans begins with Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara in midfield, with Morgan Rogers and captain John McGinn starting behind Ollie Watkins – who makes his 200th Premier League appearance for the club. View team news in full below… Aston Villa: Bizot; Cash, Konsa, Lindelöf, Maatsen; Kamara, Onana; Rogers, Tielemans, McGinn (c); Watkins. Substitutes: Wright; Digne, García, Bogarde, Hemmings, Buendía, Sancho, Guessand, Malen.

Manager sits down for pre-match press conference

Rachel Daly scores her first two goals of the season, including one in the first 27 seconds of the match, as Aston Villa beat Liverpool 3-0 in the Women's Super League.

FixturesFC Basel Vs. Aston Villa - Thu, Dec 11th 2025, 20:00 Evann Guessand hailed the dynamic and confidence within Aston Villa’s ranks after securing an eighth successive victory on Thursday night. Guessand’s second goal of the season helped put Villa on their way to a 2-1 UEFA Europa League triumph over Basel in Switzerland. It represents Villa’s ninth European victory in 2025, our most ever in a single year in the club’s history. “The dynamic is good, the team has a lot of confidence,” goalscorer Guessand told VillaTV. “We are really happy because it was not easy to win in Switzerland. “We know that every game in the Europa League is going to be hard and we’re going to fight until the end.” Guessand’s 12th-minute opener was cancelled out by Flavius Daniliuc, before substitute Youri Tielemans struck to seal the spoils with yet another goal from outside the area. Heading into the encounter, reigning Swiss champions Basel had won each of their last seven home Europa League matches and were unbeaten in 10 on home soil in the competition since 2015. Victory over the ‘Rotblau’ at St. Jakob-Park leaves Unai Emery’s side in third place in the table, with the top three separated by just goal difference, and a spot in at least the knockout phase play-off places now secured. “Really happy, really happy because it was a tough game,” said Guessand, reflecting on the win. “This team is a really good team, we saw it, and at the end of the game we’re really happy because when we see the table, those three points are going to help us a lot, I hope, for the future. “So, really happy.” Asked about the league phase standings after Matchday 6, he replied: “I think we’re in a good place, it’s not finished yet. “If we keep this dynamic we can achieve something good, it’s all about confidence.”

Bayern Munich plan to hold talks with Marc Guehi about a potential move, Tottenham will try to sell Yves Bissouma in January, Aston Villa looking to send Harvey Elliot back to Liverpool, plus more.

FixturesFC Basel Vs. Aston Villa - Thu, Dec 11th 2025, 20:00 Aston Villa look to close out their European calendar year on a high on Thursday night, when visiting FC Basel on Matchday Six of the UEFA Europa League (ko 8pm). Unai Emery’s men travel to St. Jakob-Park hunting down an eighth successive win in all competitions and a third consecutive triumph in the Europa League in what is their final outing in the competition of 2025. Villa enter the clash on a high after Saturday’s last-gasp win over Premier League leaders Arsenal took them to within three points of the summit of the table, and currently sit third in the Europa League standings with three matches remaining. Basel, meanwhile, currently occupy the final qualifying spot in the league phase table, after two wins and three defeats from their five outings have them 24th with three games left to play. Ludovic Magnin’s men are third in the Swiss Super League, seven points off leaders Thun, though have only lost one of their last six league outings.Stats Aston Villa have played 93.5% of their passes short in the UEFA Europa League this season, the highest percentage of any side. The only English side to have a higher ratio of short passes in a Europa League season are Brighton in 2023/24 (93.9%).  Basel have won each of their last seven home UEFA Europa League matches – the longest current ongoing winning home run in the competition – and are unbeaten in 10 on home soil (W8 D2) since a 2-1 defeat to Belenenses in October 2015.  Aston Villa and Basel met in the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup final – after a 1-1 draw in Switzerland in the first leg, Villa won 4-1 in the second leg with goals from Darius Vassell, Juan Pablo Angel (x2) and David Ginola to qualify for the 2001/02 UEFA Cup.  Aston Villa have won eight of their last 10 major European matches (L2), with all eight wins coming in 2025 – their most ever in a single year in their European history.  Basel have won five of their last 10 major European games against English opponents (D1 L4), with their most recent game a 2-1 away win at Man City in March 2018 in the UEFA Champions League. Matchday Five The Villans made it back-to-back Europa League victories and four straight wins in all competitions on Matchday Five, when triumphing over another Swiss side at Villa Park. BSC Young Boys visited B6 at the end of November, and fell two goals down in the opening half thanks to Donyell Malen’s brace. The first was a neat header guided into the bottom corner just before the half-hour, and his second saw him turn away from a defender and finish confidently three minutes before the break. Joel Monteiro halved the deficit in stoppage time to make for a nervy final few minutes, but the hosts hung on to climb to third in the league phase table.Team News Unai Emery revealed Evann Guessand is fit to feature for the Villans, after the forward missed the weekend’s win over Arsenal with a knock. Ross Barkley and Tyrone Mings remain Emery’s only long-term injury absentees. Basel, meanwhile, are expected to again be without Kaio Eduardo, who has been nursing an injury. Villa are likely to come up against in-form Xherdan Shaqiri – the former Stoke City and Liverpool man has 11 goals and 10 assists in 25 games so far this season.Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts“The most important thing is how we are building the team, how we are achieving in our process during each competition, our stronger mentality in everything. Through it, try to show tomorrow how we can compete, how we can continue building our structure with the players in our tactical idea in Europe against Basel, because to play away is always difficult. To play in Europe is always difficult. Basel are going to play at home and they won two matches at home in this competition. They are feeling strong through their stadium with their supporters and they will be facing us so, so motivated.” - Unai Emery"We know we're facing a big challenge. I expect a tough game against a technically very strong opponent. We have to be prepared to suffer and also manage without possession for long stretches. But there are those magical nights at St. Jakob-Park. We want to bring the same energy to the stadium as we did against VfB Stuttgart, then anything is possible." - Ludovic Magnin

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery says he wants to "get a solution" for on-loan Harvey Elliott, who will "not definitely" be joining the club on a permanent basis.

Naz sustained injury against Aston Villa on Sunday She will have surgery and will not play again this season The England winger Jessica Naz will miss the rest of the season after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in her right knee. The 25-year-old was withdrawn injured during Tottenham’s Women’s Super League victory over Aston Villa on Sunday. Spurs released a statement on Tuesday saying that Naz would undergo surgery. Continue reading...

Partnership set to champion community growth and support

Chris Sutton and Conor Coady discuss Aston Villa's title credentials and their admiration for manager Unai Emery on the Monday Night Club.

Match at the Amex kicks off at 2pm (GMT) Share your thoughts with Daniel via email “Celebrating the resurgence of West Ham is a bit premature, chides Eric Peterson. “They’re on a three-game winless streak, with those games against: a sinking Bournemouth, a floundering Manchester United, and an imploding Liverpool. Facing Brighton, which hadn’t lost since October before running into an irresistible Aston Villa, will provide a sterner, and truer, test.” They’re much better than they were; United battered Brighton; and Villa were not irresistible in midweek. I don’t think West Ham will go down, do you? Continue reading...

Gunners boss explains what went wrong as last-gasp Emi Buendia goal ends unbeaten run and blows open title race