Aston Villa vs West Ham United

Aston Villa’s pursuit of their first FA Cup title since 1957 commences at Villa Park against out-of-sorts West Ham United.

Second-half goals from Ross Barkley and Leon Bailey propelled Aston Villa to a 2-1 home win against Leicester City in their first Premier League match of 2025, erasing the memory of a dismal ending to the last calendar year (D1, L1). Unai Emery’s men have won five of their seven competitive games since the beginning of December (D1, L1), with six producing over 2.5 goals, highlighting the potential for a goal-glutted encounter. You’d expect nothing less from a match-up that yielded two identical 4-1 scorelines in its last three iterations (W1, L2). Villa’s seven-game unbeaten home run in all competitions (W4, D3) puts them in the driver’s seat to emerge victorious this time, especially considering they scored 2+ goals five times during that sequence.

In the meantime, West Ham couldn’t tolerate Julen Lopetegui any longer following a disastrous 4-1 defeat at Manchester City. It was the final straw to break the camel’s back after a humiliating 5-0 home loss to Liverpool, resulting in the Spaniard’s sacking. His successor, Graham Potter, will look to hit the ground running from the get-go, though defying West Ham’s poor four-game run on the road (W1, D1, L2) could prove a tall order. That’s because they couldn’t score more than once in any of those four matches while conceding 3+ goals on two occasions. As if that’s not ominous enough, the Hammers haven’t beaten Villa in any of their last four H2Hs (D2, L2).