London, Aug 18 (IANS) Aston Villa got their Premier League campaign off to a winning start with a hard-fought 2-1 victory against West Ham United – the club’s first result at London Stadium. Amadou Onana marked his debut in stunning style, leaping highest to head home a corner after four minutes as the visitors made a dream start.
Unai Emery’s side created a host of chances to extend their lead before they were pegged back by Lucas Paquetá’s penalty after 37 minutes. An end-to-end second half followed, with Jhon Duran climbing off the bench to make himself a hero when he slotted the winner 11 minutes from time.
Youri Tielemans sent an inswinging corner into the box and after losing his marker, Belgian compatriot Onana headed home at the near post. A sharp start from the visitors almost produced a second goal when Morgan Rogers drove at the Hammers’ defence, but his low shot was parried away by Alphonse Areola.
John McGinn shot narrowly wide at the end of a flowing counter-attack, and the away team’s inability to build on their lead proved costly when the hosts equalised on 37 minutes. After Matty Cash felled Tomáš Souček in the box, Paquetá sent Emi Martínez the wrong way from the penalty spot.
West Ham ended the first half in the ascendency and they began the second in the same vein, with only a critical block from Lucas Digne denying Souček at the back post. While their control on proceedings had waned, Villa retained their attacking threat, carving out two great chances to retake the lead.
First, Tielemans and Rogers saw shots scrambled away by a combination of Areola and his defenders before substitute Durán picked out the side netting after going clean through on goal.
A sumptuous touch from Maatsen rolled into the path of Ramsey, whose low cross was turned into the net first time by Duran in the 79th minute. Former Villan, Danny Ings set his sights on levelling the scores once more, but Martínez flew across the goal to keep out his former teammates’ header with four minutes left.
A heart-in-mouth moment followed in the final seconds of seven added minutes, but Soucek put an effort over the bar from a few yards out under heavy pressure from Ezri Konsa as Villa celebrated an away day win to kick off the season.
–IANS
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