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West Ham v Aston Villa

The London Stadium hosts West Ham’s opener as they take on Aston Villa at home in the Premier League following busy summers for both sides.

West Ham in particular have had a very intriguing transfer window, making them a popular ‘dark horse’ selection for many fans of the Premier League. Incomings include Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo, Crysencio Summerville and Niclas Füllkrug, all of whom we can expect to go straight into the starting lineup, filling a few holes that became very apparent last season.

Aston Villa have made two key additions, alongside a crop of new young talent who may make more sporadic appearances. We’ve seen glimpses of Ian Maatsen’s potential and with a price tag in excess of €40 million, he’s sure to get a run of games which should do him the world of good. Amadou Onana has also been brought in to replace Douglas Luiz whose departure to Juventus alarmed many Villa fans, most of whom are now satisfied with the calibre of replacement.

The Premier League is officially back for the 24/25 season and our signature football betting predictions are back in full action. Make sure to check out the plethora of Premier League bet builder tips and Premier League accumulator tips to give yourself the best chance of backing a winner this opening weekend.

It doesn’t stop there either, with a selection of both teams to score tips, along with player prop market predictions to fold into bet builders, like our card betting tips, player shots on target tips, and fouls betting predictions.

If you enjoy this betting preview, be sure to check out our West Ham v Aston Villa bet builder tips too, we’ve got all bases covered ahead of the clash.

We should be in for a cracking and closely run affair, between two sides who will both harbour realistic hopes to upset the traditional big 6 in this edition of the Premier League.

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West Ham v Aston Villa Best Bets

➡️ West Ham goalkeeper to make 3+ saves @ 1.73 with Paddy Power
➡️ Lucas Paqueta to be fouled 2+ times @ 1.44 with Paddy Power
➡️ Amadou Onana to be fouled 2+ times @ 1.91 with Paddy Power

Given the number of new high-quality signings that West Ham have made, predicting the outcome of this fixture looks much harder than it would have last season. In fact, West Ham go into this slight favourites. We recommend you stay away from this hard-to-call market and instead look at the value in the ones below.

One stand-out option is the West Ham Keeper to make 3+ saves @ 1.73. We particularly like this option given how exposed The Hammers found themselves at the back last year, conceding the fourth most goals and third most expected goals in the league. True, they have made some new additions to the backline but it remains to be seen if they’ll all be ready to debut and how quickly they’ll click.

In the fouls market, the dual between Paqueta and Onana looks ready to exploit. The latter averaged 1.59 fouls committed per 90 while also managing to draw 1.94 last season. Paqueta on the other hand committed 1.61 and drew a remarkable 2.26 per game. You can find Paqueta to draw 2+ fouls @ 1.44. Onana is slightly longer in the same market at 1.91 – which also seems great value.

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📂 West Ham v Aston Villa Cheat Sheet

There are so many ways to use our Cheat Sheets and we encourage you to find your own formula to pick a winning bet builder, however, if you’re unsure of how to use a Cheat Sheet, just click the link for some quick tips to help you make the most of it.

You can find even more match stats for this match on my bet builder stats tool, along with official line-ups one hour before kick-off.

Check out our list of the best Premier League free bet offers, best betting sites for accumulators and the top bet builder sites. We also collect the best free bet offers and weekly free bet clubs, and maintain an up-to-date of the best UK sports betting sites all to help you bet smarter.

We aim to make our readers better punters, and guides such as our xG in football article are available on-site to help you take your research to the next level. Other useful pieces include our guide to betting on corners, and our tips for how to bet on the fouls won market.

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📊 West Ham Form and Stats

There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s been a poor preseason for West Ham, suffering 3-1 losses to Premier League opposition in Wolves and Crystal Palace before drawing Celta Vigo.

The results can in part be forgiven with their summer signings arriving too late to play significant minutes and Lopetegui experimenting with tactical, and personnel alterations being made.

Since achieving back-to-back qualifications for European football in 2021 and 2022, West Ham have struggled in the league, finishing 14^th and then 9^th last season. That said, following significant and well-allocated investment over the summer, they’re likely to be aiming higher this season.

All eyes will be on West Ham’s defence which cost them dearly last year. Only the relegated sides shipped away more than West Ham’s 74 goals which actually flatters them compared to their 77.91 xGA. Luckily for Hammers fans, defensive reinforcement is on the way with Kilman, Todibo and Wan-Bissaka backed to help sure things up this year.

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📊 Aston Villa Form and Stats

Similarly to West Ham, Aston Villa have also had a pretty mixed preseason, featuring losses to Leipzig, Club America and Dortmund but managing a 3-2 victory over Athletic Bilbao.

Again, rotation was widespread with a couple of young players afforded the chance to play with the first team ahead of a busy season also consisting of Champions League football.

The strategic investment from the previous summer paid off nicely for Aston Villa who secured their first Premier League top 4 finish since 1996. As impressive as it was, their underlying figures cast doubt over how sustainable their form was with only Man United outperforming their expected points by more than the Villains (12.57).

Ollie Watkins was their star man and will hope to maintain his rich vein of form from last season. Only Cole Palmer topped the Englishman’s 32 league goal contributions and that was largely thanks to his nine converted penalties compared to Watkins’ zero. In Douglas Luiz’s absence, Watkins should be Villa’s first-choice taker this season.

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⚔️ West Ham v Aston Villa Head-to-Head

Aston Villa are undefeated in their last three clashes with West Ham which have consisted of two 1-1 draws and last season a 4-1 demolition at Villa Park. This seems to imply the tide has turned is recent years because predating that, the Hammers maintained a winning streak of five and an unbeaten one of eight.

In fact, Villa are yet to take three points home from The London Stadium since West Ham made the move in 2016. They’ll be hoping to reverse the trend at the 6^th attempt on Saturday. One intriguing trend we’ve seen emerge in this fixture is the propensity for both teams to score.

Both teams have found the back of the net in eight of the last nine showings so if all goes to plan, we can expect an action-packed affair as these two battle to get their first points on the board.

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* We recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.

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