Aston Villa enjoyed a successful opening day of the Premier League season as they overcame a difficult test away at West Ham to win 2-1.
Unai Emery will be very pleased that Aston Villa did not continue their pre-season form into the new season, with his players losing four of their last five friendlies of the summer.
Instead, Villa flew out the blocks and went 1-0 up after just four minutes through a close-range header from new signing Amadou Onana from a corner.
West Ham pegged Villa back through a penalty before half-time, before late heroics from Jhon Duran – who has been linked with a move to the Hammers – ensured it was the Villans who claimed all three points.
A strong start to the campaign, it was not without flaws and one Villa starter may find himself on the bench next time out after his display.
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Unai Emery must drop Matty Cash from Aston Villa XI after West Ham performance
That player is Matty Cash, with the right-back continuing his poor form from the end of last season by struggling against West Ham.
Villa were expected to sign an upgrade on Cash this summer, but the emergence of 18-year-old Kosta Nedeljkovic in pre-season saw that plan halted.
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Villa signed Nedeljkovic in January but allowed the youngster to return to Red Star Belgrade on loan for the second half of the season as part of the deal.
His impressive summer led to some believing he would oust Cash from the starting line-up for the season-opener against West Ham but Emery stuck with the more experienced player.
However, that may not be the case against Arsenal next weekend, as Cash was the player to give away a contentious penalty for his challenge on Tomas Soucek in an afternoon in which he struggled up against Mohammed Kudus.
Birmingham World scored Cash a six out of ten in their player ratings for the West Ham win, commenting: “Gave away the penalty for 1-1, nudging over Soucek.
“A harsh one, perhaps, but still clumsy.
“Conceded a few more sloppy fouls, too, but otherwise impressed with his attacking work. Fed one particularly pin-point pass down the line to Bailey who then struck the post.
“Mixed success defending up against Kudus.”
Cash woes continue despite Aston Villa beating West Ham
Having been a stalwart at right-back since arriving at Villa in 2020, Cash’s nosedive in form at the backend of last season was a real concern.
Some of this had been put down to the intense workload of a small Villa squad amid a run to the Europa Conference League semi-final, but Cash has started as he ended last season.
Whether or not it was a penalty is up for debate, but it was a clumsy challenge that Cash should have known better than to make in the box.
Statistically, the Cash’s performance doesn’t make for great reading either, as – according to Sofascore – the defender won just 45% of his 11 duels (5/11), was dribbled past twice and of course gave away the penalty.
The 26-year-old also made three fouls and lost possession ten times across his 82 minutes before being replaced by Nedeljkovic.
