Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden reacts to West Ham United 1-2 Aston Villa in the Premier League, with goals from Amadou Onana, Lucas Paqueta and Jhon Duran.
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00:00West Ham United won Aston Villa 2. Who else but John Duran, the man who so
00:07nearly joined West Ham earlier in this transfer window. Bids rejected by Aston
00:11Villa in the region of £30-35 million for the Colombian. The one the kid
00:15who would be posting on social media making irons gestures, not liked by the
00:19club, not liked by the fans, but he was the one who scored the winner here at
00:23London Stadium the opening weekend of the new Premier League season. Certainly
00:27not disappointing, especially for the away fans here at London Stadium. Duran,
00:32his finish was just sublime. Coming off the bench and coming off from a low
00:37Ramsey cut back, it was a great team goal as well. Ian Mattson involved the
00:41new summer signing from Chelsea, all the way through from Pau Torres at the back,
00:45Ramsey, Mattson, back to Ramsey and then to Duran who fired hard and low through
00:49the legs of Alphonse Arriola. He went over to the travelling support, did Duran
00:53and he celebrated in the way, firstly obviously pumping his fists as he would
00:58naturally, but then pointing to the ground, pointing to the Aston Villa badge
01:02and holding his hands up almost to apologise for his actions earlier in
01:06this transfer window. But as Unai Emery said earlier this week, Duran has got a
01:09lot to learn. He's still young and I'm sure this will be a learning curve for
01:13him and of course getting the winning goal will only help people forgiving him.
01:17But the game was very much in Villa's hands from the opening three minutes.
01:21Another summer addition was Amadou Onana, the £50m man heading in from Yuri
01:28Thielemann's corner. He was a very good header but the run and strength was even
01:33more impressive. He shrugged off Miquel Antonio, who himself is a very physical
01:37player, got through a gap and then headed into the near post. Villa for like 25-30
01:42minutes after that were dominating the game, plenty more chances. Leon Bailey
01:46hit the outside of the post after rounding Alphonse Arriola. John McGinn
01:50saw one go very narrowly wide. He had one shot blocked and then his rebounded
01:54effort, he tried to pass it into that far corner and it went so, so close to going
01:59in but didn't quite. But then before the break, West Ham got a penalty. Lucas
02:03Paqueta converted. It looked harsh. Matty Cash kind of nudged over Thomas Socek,
02:09I believe it was, and Socek, he made the most of the contact and went down. It
02:13wasn't enough for VAR to intervene, I don't think, but had the foul not been
02:17given, I don't think they would have made it a penalty, if that makes sense. It was
02:21quite harsh. West Ham got their goal and they impressed after that, before
02:24half-time and after the break as well. They had most of the possession but then
02:28Villa, helped by their second-half substitutes, Unai Emery, directing that
02:32with his genius. They improved again, they got their goal and they managed to hold
02:36on at the end. So a very impressive three points in the end for Villa. Lots to work
02:40on still. Ollie Watkins not quite looking too sharp up top but to be expected
02:44considering he didn't have a pre-season and a few moments of weakness at the
02:49back, a few defensive errors. But on the whole, three points is the most
02:52important thing and they go into the game against Arsenal next weekend with
02:55great confidence.