Aston Villa vs. West Ham, lineups and open match thread

On the plus side, this match may be good! Villa have shown themselves more than willing to go after games in recent weeks, and they're a pretty fun side when they're in that mindset. On the minus side, Villa's pretty much unwatchable when they're doing anything other than going after it, and they haven't put together enough performances on the front foot to ever feel all that comfortable that an attacking side is to be expected.

Even if it's boring this is an important match, with the three points on offer being potentially season-altering for both sides; Wet Ham might suck, but Aston Villa also kind of sucks, and we're probably at least one more transfer window away from any real separation between these two sides; Premier League football, everyone!

Aston Villa Starting XI

Brad Guzan; Matthew Lowton, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Ryan Bertrand; Leandro Bacuna, Ashley Westwood, Fabian Delph; Andi Weimann, Christian Benteke, Gabby Agbonlahor

Aston Villa Subs

Jed Steer, Karim El Ahmadi, Yacouba Sylla, Nicklas Helenius, Marc Albrighton, Grant Holt, Joe Bennett

West Ham Starting XI

Adrian; Guy Demel, James Tomkins, James Collins, George McCartney, Kevin Nolan, Mark Noble, Matthew Taylor, Matthew Jarvis, Carlton Cole, Stewart Downing

West Ham Subs

Jussi Jaaskelainen, Winston Reid, Jack Collison, Roger Johnson, Marco Borriello, Antonio Nocerino, Pablo Armero