Paul Merson issues stark Aston Villa warning as he delivers West Ham prediction
The Premier League returns this weekend and so too do pundit predictions, with Paul Merson the first to have his say on West Ham vs Aston Villa
Paul Merson warns Saturday’s Premier League opener against West Ham United could be a ‘difficult’ start to a tricky season ahead for Aston Villa.
All of the summer transfer business and every single pre-season friendly to have taken place have all been building up to Villa’s return to top-flight action. Unai Emery and his squad travel down to London on Saturday where they are tasked with defeating Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham.
The Hammers have undergone some serious changes over the past months, first bringing in the former Wolves manager in place of David Moyes then allowing him to make an impression on the squad with eight signings worth £123.7m in total. To some extent so have Villa, not making a managerial change themselves though the need to compete on multiple high-profile fronts has forced a great amount of business since the window began.
Champions League football won’t begin to cause an impact until next month, though with the likes of Amadou Onana and Ian Maatsen gelling into their new roles Merson discussed the challenges the team will face this weekend with Sportskeeda. The former Arsenal and England midfielder’s full-time prediction was a 1-1 draw.
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“West Ham have bought well this summer and will be hard to defeat,” he explained. “[Crysencio] Summerville was ripping it up in the Championship last season, but he is now playing against better full-backs – we’ll have to wait and see.”
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