Chris Sutton has predicted a tight affair as West Ham head to Aston Villa on Sunday (22 October) in a game between two sides that "have lots of goals in them".

The pundit highlighted the Villans home form, along with the resurgence of striker Ollie Watkins, in his BBC Sport predictions on their website (19 October) as he tipped Unai Emery's side to "squeak" it and take three points.

Sutton rates the Hammers' start to the season but has predicted they will lose their trip to the Midlands by the odd goal and go down 2-1.

Sutton said: "Both of these teams have made strong starts to the season and they both have lots of goals in them, so this is going to be close.

"But Aston Villa have been particularly good at home, where they have scored 13 goals in three league games, and Ollie Watkins is flying at the moment - that's why I think they will squeak this."

If West Ham play at their best they can certainly take this one, but Sutton is right that it is by no means an easy assignment.

Villa's 6-1 win over Brighton on 30 September, in which Watkins netted a hat-trick, has arguably skewed the form guide, as either side of that they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at home by Everton and laboured to a late 1-0 win over Zrinjski Mostar in Europe.

That said, their first-choice side for the Premier League has been impressive at Villa Park so West Ham will have to ready to go from the off.

If the likes of Jarrod Bowen, James Ward-Prowse, and possibly now Mohammed Kudus, can have good games then the Irons would expect to score goals.

Having battled back for a point against Newcastle prior to the international break, via the Ghanaian star's first in the Premier League, the Hammers will want to keep up some momentum.

Avoiding defeat may be an acceptable outcome against a side two places higher in the table, but a win here would lay some excellent ground work for a long run.

In other West Ham news, the Irons have their sights set on an international defender who is having a "simply perfect season" so far.

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