Aston Villa 1-4 West Ham: Hammers maintain impressive away record with big win over hapless Villa as Ezri Konsa sees red

West Ham rubber-stamped their position as the form team in the Premier League romping to a 4-1 at Aston Villa, who played most of the second half with ten men after Ezri Konsa's sending off.

Ben Johnson opened the scoring when he turned in from the right flank and drilled a low effort home, but Villa got back on level terms when Emiliano Buendia got to the by-line and pulled back for Ollie Watkins to slot home.

Declan Rice drilled a low 25-yard effort home in off the post to put the Hammers back in front at half time and their task was made easier after the break when Konsa pulled down Jarrod Bowen on the edge of the box.

Although Villa put up a good fight with ten men and were inches away from equalising when Lukasz Fabianski tipped Watkins' header against the crossbar, but the Hammers on the break extended the lead in the closing stages with close range goals from Pablo Fornals and Bowen.

West Ham, who now have three Premier League wins on the trot, lie in fourth position, level on points with third-place Manchester City, while Aston Villa remain in 15th spot.

It is a big call to drop your captain and Dean Smith must rue his decision. In the first half, the chosen centre backs Ezri Konsa and Kortney Hause did not look too bad, but you could argue with their biggest talker on the field such long range shots may have been more likely to be closed down.

In the big moment of the game, both centre backs could have been sent off as Hause's extremely careless elbow on Pablo Fornals easily might have seen him walk before Konsa clumsily gave away the free kick on the edge of his area.

We have seen enough of Mings in high pressure situations over the last couple of years to be pretty confident he would not have committed either error. In addition his strong and cool presence was handy in the opposition box through Villa's main attacking threat, Matty Cash's long throws, as shown with his part in Watkins' chance at goal.

Most crucially though there is the probability Smith has irked his captain. In tough times you need your leaders on board and make no mistake, with a fourth defeat on the bounce and three points from the relegation zone, these are tough times for Villa and their boss.

There haven't been many stars of England's European Championships campaign who have come out of the blocks impressively in the Premier League this season, but the West Ham skipper certainly has.

West Ham are the most well-drilled of teams but you fancy Rice, along with Michail Antonio perhaps, is the omission who would force this finely-tuned machine to malfunction.

Put simply, there is no more consistent midfielder in the English top-flight. Driving his team forwards and directing play as always, he was also a key man in his own box diverting crosses from reaching Villa players.

And of course, there was his goal, if he can add this to his game the mind boggles as to what the price West Ham could charge for him will be, after David Moyes said last week he would now cost any suitor much more than £100m.

Aston Villa: Martinez 6; Cash 7, Konsa 5, Hause 6, Targett 6, Nakamba 6, McGinn 6, Ramsey 6; Buendia 6, Bailey 6, Watkins 7.

Subs: Young 6, Mings 6, El Ghazi 6.

West Ham: Fabianski 7; Johnson 8, Zouma 7, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 6; Rice 8, Soucek 7; Bowen 7, Fornals 7, Benrahma 6; Antonio 6.

Subs: Lanzini 7, Coufal 6, Vlasic 6.

7' GOAL FOR WEST HAM! It has been al West Ham in the first seven minutes and they top it off with a goal. Rice played the ball wide for Johnson in space and he cut in from the right flank and hit a low drive with his left foot inside the far post.

35' GOAL FOR VILLA! Great play on the wing from Buendia beating his man and getting to the by-line and then pulling back for Watkins whose low effort Fabianski got a foot to but couldn't keep out.

38' GOAL FOR WEST HAM! What a strike! From almost 30 yards Rice drills a low shot which slams in just off the post the bottom left corner.

47' YELLOW CARD! Bowen is brought down on the edge of the Villa box by Konsa who gets a yellow card.

50' RED CARD! Now VAR are checking whether Konsa should have got a red card. And he has! Villa are in deep trouble.

58' OFF THE BAR! Cash's long throw causes havoc and Mings passes wide to McGinn whose cross is headed at goal by Watkins but Fabianski just finger-tipped it onto the bar.

81' GOAL FOR WEST HAM! Fornals nudges home from close range after Bowen raced through the middle and forced a good save from Martinez.

85' GOAL FOR WEST HAM! Bowen taps home this time after a fine move which saw Antonio play through Lanzini and then he squared to leave the former Hull winger with an open goal.