Villa Park will play host as Aston Villa attempts to halt their consecutive losses by facing West Ham United on a Sunday afternoon in English Premier League competition.
Aston Villa suffered defeat at the hands of Monaco in continental competition the previous Tuesday night as the Hammers enjoyed this weekend's rest after Crystal Palace defeated them at the London Stadium.
The unbeaten streak which commenced Aston Villa's positive year started to fade in the Champions League after a single first-half goal from Wilfried Singo of Monaco brought defeat on Tuesday.
Despite their progress in UEFA's elite club group stage, Aston Villa maintains a positive status ninth in the 36-team league phase as they aim to qualify directly for the last 16 group stage standings.
The Premier League saw Unai Emery's team use powerful resilience to earn a draw against title contenders Arsenal when Tielemans and Watkins scored second-half goals before the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
There is a rising expectancy among Aston Villa supporters as they prepare to play their first game at Villa Park following two weeks since their last home match. The team will try to build upon their current 10-game home run which surpasses any other Premier League sides except Mikel Arteta's Arsenal who have 14 games without loss in their home stadium.
After defeating West Ham at the London Stadium in August, the Villans know that Sunday afternoon would be the perfect time to accomplish a Premier League double over West Ham for the first time since the 2010–11 season. They enter this weekend four points behind fourth-place Chelsea.
Graham Potter believed that West Ham's open position was a good opportunity to return to managing after more than a year out after leaving Chelsea in 2023, but it looks like the Englishman has dived straight into the Premier League fire in East London.
A pair of top-flight games at the London Stadium provided mixed results for the 49-year-old, who began his Hammers tenure with an FA Cup loss at Villa Park on January 10. The most recent of those games ended in a heartbreaking loss to Crystal Palace last weekend.
Potter's decision to go to a back-five system may have hindered the home team's offensive because West Ham, who were leapfrogged by the Eagles in the Premier League standings, failed to register a single shot on Dean Henderson's goal during the top-flight contest.
With Sunday's visit to Villa Park putting them 10 points ahead of 18th-place Ipswich Town, the Hammers are not in immediate danger of being forced into a relegation struggle this season, despite being regrettably stuck in mid-table just a few years after their historic Conference League success under David Moyes.
West Ham has scored 11 goals away from home in the Premier League this season, second only to Everton (6), Southampton (8), and Ruben Amorim's Manchester United (10). The East Londoners' only road victory in their past five games came on Boxing Day against Ivan Juric's Saints.
