Aston Villa hammer West Ham to maintain 100 per cent home record in Premier League

Aston Villa's incredible home form could provide a platform for a run at the Champions League spots in the Premier League this season. A 4-1 hammering of West Ham on Sunday made it four straight wins – and 17 goals in the process – for Unai Emery's team in its four matches at Villa Park so far. Villa moved a point off the top four after nine games and have a couple of players in great scoring form. Brazil midfielder Douglas Luiz scored twice and England striker Ollie Watkins added another, with both moving on to five for the campaign. Substitute Leon Bailey also netted for Villa. Luiz drove home the 30th-minute opener from the edge of the area after a lay-off from Watkins before converting a penalty in the 51st following Nayef Aguerd’s trip on Ezri Konsa. Jarrod Bowen pulled a goal back for West Ham in the 56th when his long-range shot deflected off Pau Torres and span into the far corner. Watkins, who netted a winner for England against Australia in the recent international break, restored Villa’s two-goal lead with the pick of the goals. He ran on to John McGinn’s long ball forward, performed a step-over to create space, then lashed a left-foot finish into the roof of the net. Bailey struck a finish into the top corner to crown another impressive home performance from Villa. There was a period of applause before kickoff in a tribute to England and Manchester United great Bobby Charlton, who died on Saturday at the age of 86. Nicolo Zaniolo started and played 76 minutes despite the Italy international being involved in a betting investigation in his home country. Villa said ahead of the game that Zaniolo “is assisting the Italian Football Federation and the relevant authorities’ investigation into alleged illegal betting activity”. Zaniolo and Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali were sent back to their clubs from Italy's training camp this month after being notified by police of involvement in the probe. Villa's Man of the Match, Douglas Luiz, said: "I'm really happy. The fans push us and it's incredible. "I like fishing so much. When I go to Brazil, every time we go fishing, this celebration is for my friends and my family, who I go with. "In the last season we spoke a lot about who takes the penalties. I took responsibility of it. I'm so happy to continue to score." Fellow goalscorer Bailey said: "The atmosphere here today was brilliant. It's not just for us, it's for our fans. They can enjoy coming to the stadium and seeing a victory. "It gives us a lot of confidence. It can be special. Hopefully we can continue to work this way. We are getting results for the work. "The teams is great. Even the players who come off from the bench understand their roles. It's about showing your ability. I think I did that with my goal today so I'm very grateful for that. "The sky is the limit for us. We have to stay focus. We need to move onto the next game. We have an important game on Thursday so we need to look at what's next." West Ham manager David Moyes said: "We weren't as resolute as we have been and we need to be harder to play against but we were up against a really good Aston Villa side. "We didn't do well in the final third. There were opportunities to pick people out. We had a few chances in the first half but didn't pick people out. "We were narrowly down at half-time and we came out hoping to get ourselves back in it then gave away a stupid penalty."

Aston Villa hammer West Ham to maintain 100 per cent home record in Premier League

Superb form of Unai Emery’s side at Villa Park could fire them into Champions League spots