10-man Aston Villa lose 4-1 at home to West Ham

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) – West Ham consolidated fourth place in the Premier League with a 4-1 win over 10-man Aston …

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) – West Ham consolidated fourth place in the Premier League with a 4-1 win over 10-man Aston Villa on Sunday.

The visitors’ Ezri Konsa took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side’s goalie and center backs 50 minutes into the match. The Villa defender was initially given a yellow card for tripping Jarrod Bowen on the edge of the penalty area, but it was changed to red after a VAR review to deny a clear goal chance.

Bowen was not to be denied for long as he sealed the victory in the 84th with a shot from the left side of the penalty area.

Villa coach Dean Smith gave Jamaica striker Leon Bailey his first Premier League start, while opponent David Moyes started with the same players who started last weekend’s win over Tottenham.

Moyes’ team started with confidence and opened the scoring in the seventh as Declan Rice sent out to the right of Ben Johnson, who cut back inside and curled a low shot into the far corner of the net with his left boot.

Ollie Watkins equalized in the 34th, but it was as good as it got for the home team and its increasingly disgruntled fans.

Rice restored the visitors’ lead four minutes later with a 25-yard (yard) shot that bubbled in through the post.

Pablo Fornals struck a rebound to make it 3-1 in the 90th and Bowen sealed it four minutes later to ensure Villa fell to their fourth league defeat in a row.

West Ham are just 20 points behind third-placed Manchester City. Villa is number 15 with 10 points after 10 matches.

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