Huge boost for Aston Villa and Gerrard as official West Ham news emerges on another injury

Aston Villa have been handed a huge boost ahead of this afternoon’s trip to West Ham, with Irons forward Jarrod Bowen unavailable for the home side.

Steven Gerrard’s side go into this afternoon’s clash at the London Stadium in fine form, winning their last three Premier League games without conceding once.

That form has taken them into the top half of the table, with Villa now looking to cut the gap to the likes of Wolves and Tottenham with 11 games to go. It’s a quick turnaround following the 3-0 win at Leeds on Thursday, but Gerrard’s side won’t have to face Bowen today.

West Ham shared an injury update on Friday on their official website, with David Moyes confirming that Bowen won’t make a return this afternoon.

The Hammers also have ‘one or two knocks and niggles’ and will still be without defenders Vladimir Coufal, Ryan Fredericks and Angelo Ogbonna due to injury.

Of course, it’s never nice when a player is sidelined through injury, but Gerrard may well welcome this news regarding the West Ham forward.

The 25-year-old has contributed to an impressive 23 goals in all competitions this season, scoring 12 (including one against Villa at Halloween), and has looked like the Hammers’ main man in an attacking sense in recent months.

This will also be the first Premier League game that he will miss in 2021/22, hopefully Villa can take full advantage of his absence to prolong their fine form and compound the Irons’ recent misery.

In other news: Big Villa update emerges; NSWE may not need to find £33m to sign Coutinho

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