Pablo Fornals ends West Ham goal drought with winner at Aston Villa

Early-season pressures meant this was never likely to be an end-to-end classic. Rather than must-win, must-not-lose appeared the order of the day. A dire first half suggested a goalless draw was set in stone, only for Pablo Fornals, via the heel of Ezri Konsa, to end West Ham’s scoring drought.

In climbing off the bottom of the table to 17th, behind Villa only on goals scored, the Hammers avoided becoming only the second team in Premier League history to lose their first four matches without scoring a goal. The previous team, Crystal Palace in 2017, removed their manager Frank de Boer immediately. David Moyes will surely not now suffer such a fate. Instead, it is Steven Gerrard who looks under the greater pressure.

Moyes had refreshed his team after losing deservedly to Brighton last week, employing a back five, new arrival Emerson Palmieri at left wing-back outside of Aaron Cresswell. Gianluca Scamacca’s Conference League goals had convinced Moyes to hand the Italian his first start at centre-forward. Both experiments would prove short-lived as West Ham’s manager reverted to the tried, trusted and eventually successful.

Gerrard’s programme notes had been littered with words like “tough”, “determination” and “character”. His team reflected those descriptions, without ever looking like a team capable of opening up their opponent. Risking Emiliano Buendía in tandem with Philippe Coutinho continues to be off-limits and with the Brazilian leaving the field with a muscle injury, is likely to remain so for a while yet.

The stakes were already too high for the type of freeform experimentation that neither Moyes nor Gerrard are known for. It took until the 13th minute for any sort of opening to be created, Ollie Watkins fizzing