West Ham and Villa played out a taught 1-1 draw, as the hosts edged, only slightly, toward safety.
This was, as might have been anticipated considering the form of these two clubs, a match that edged toward stalemate with a tense, labouring gait. Two sides met, hampered by injury or inadequate quality, in a stadium that hasn’t seen a home win all season. West ham continued their run of draws, finally scoring a goal after more than 300 minutes of football, and Villa cut the margin to safety by a single point. Aaron Cresswell, dutifully fulfilling his lopsided attacking brief, scored the opening goal just before the break, sweetly striking after cutting inside from the left. An appropriate amount of swazz was applied by Cresswell, and the ball scythed into the far corner.
BILIC: The manager was content with a point at @AVFCOfficial #AVLWHU #WHUFC pic.twitter.com/fXjTGo7Msk
— West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) December 26, 2015
Villa managed to put together a fine period of pressure in the second half, and were rewarded as Gabriel Ogbonna cut across the back of Rudy Gestede as the striker surged into the box. Gestede duly went down and was given a penalty. Jordan Ayew scored the spot kick, his second goal in two games, and Villa were level. The home side tried to force through a winner, but were denied by James Collins and the rest of the Hammers defence, working as they were at times from on top of their very own goal line. In truth, as much as a win would have meant to these point-starved home fans, a draw was a fair result.
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