MY ACCOUNT
Ukraine international Andriy Yarmolenko scored an emotional goal as West Ham beat Aston Villa 2-1.
It took until the 70th minute for the deadlock to be broken with Hammers substitute Yarmolenko receiving the ball in the box with his back to goal before swivelling and firing into the bottom corner.
Pablo Fornals doubled West Ham’s lead 12 minutes later, steering home from the centre of the area as Said Benrahma claimed his second assist of the match with a low cross.
Villa pulled one back when Jacob Ramsey lashed a superb strike in from the edge of the box. But the visitors were unable to complete a comeback.
Yarmolenko explained the emotion he felt after scoring and revealed his gratitude for the support he has received.
He said: “It was so emotional for me because of the situation in my country. It is so difficult for me right now in this moment thinking about football because every day, the Russian army is killing Ukrainian people.
“It was so emotional. To be honest, I don’t know what to say. I just want to say thank you to my teammates, who support me all the time, every day. To West Ham fans, they also support me and Ukrainian people and also to all British people, because we feel you support us. Thank you, really.
“I felt the support from the fans and I tried to give everything on the pitch because I know how important the game was for us today. I’m not ready for 100% because the last two weeks I train maybe three or four times.
“Since 26 February, I had to rest for four days because it was impossible to train, I was just thinking about my family and my people. I just tried to give everything on the pitch.”
Villa manager Steven Gerrard suggested that the result of the game came down to individual moments.
He said: “I think we lost the game in moments. We were keeping the ball well but we didn’t create as much as wanted. At 0-0 at half-time, away from home, we were in an okay place.
“I never thought there were two goals against us in the game, but we have to look at ourselves defensively because we have ourselves to blame. We managed to get a fantastic goal and take West Ham to the wire but their second goal was very hurtful to us.
“The game was decided by moments that went against us and we couldn’t do more with the moments we had. We have a few bumps and bruises so we have to recover well before Arsenal net week.
“We are satisfied in a lot of areas. We started the job in 16th and we are ninth. There are still areas we can improve, we want to finish as high as we can.
“I have been around this league for a long time. I might be inexperienced in standing on the side but I’ve been around a lot of football matches. A big thing I’m trying to improve on is staying balanced and calm when things go against you. Hopefully next time we go to West Ham, the moments will be in our favour.”
Did you know?
West Ham have done a league double over Aston Villa in consecutive campaigns for the first time since the 1960s, when they beat them home and away in 1964-65, 1965-66 and 1966-67 under Ron Greenwood.
West Ham are one of just two sides – along with Liverpool – to have scored in 100% of their Premier League home games this season. Overall, the Hammers have scored in their last 16 such matches in the competition, last having a longer such run in the top-flight between October 1985 and January 1987 (27).
Benrahma assisted both of West Ham’s goals today — the fifth time he’s set up two goals in a single league game in English football, and the first time since March 2020 in the Championship with Brentford.
Ramsey, 20, has scored six Premier League goals for Aston Villa. The only players to score more for the Villans in the competition before turning 21 are Gabriel Agbonlahor (13) and Luke Moore (11).
Yarmolenko scored the first Premier League goal by a Ukrainian since Yarmolenko himself scored against Aston Villa in July 2020, with that goal also coming from the bench at the London Stadium.
