Steven Gerrard drops transfer hint as Aston Villa boss reveals glaring issue

Aston Villa's unbeaten run came to an abrupt end at high-flying West Ham with substitute Andriy Yarmolenko and Pablo Fornals finishing Steven Gerrard's side off within 12 second-half minutes.

Ukrainian Yarmolenko, brought on for the injured Michael Antonio, was overcome with emotion and was in tears after firing home past Emi Martinez after good build-up play from Said Benrahma.

The Hammers soon killed the match off when Declan Rice nipped in ahead of Jamaican winger Leon Bailey before driving forwards. The England ace played the ball out wide to the ever-dangerous Benrahma who checked it back and Fornals made no mistake to condemn Villa to their first defeat in four Premier League matches.

Villa did, however, rally late on as Jacob Ramsey scored his sixth Premier League goal of the season, placing home Emi Buendia's lay-off to make it a nervy finale.

Prior to kick-off, Gerrard stuck to his guns and named an unchanged team but, just eight minutes in, Lucas Digne was forced off with a hamstring injury as Ashley Young replaced him.

To the action and Villa contained David Moyes' men throughout the first half, with stopper Martinez facing the odd pot-shot from distance from the likes of one-time Villa target Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals.

Villa, meanwhile, had large spells of possession before fashioning a couple of half-chances of their own with Ollie Watkins seeing an effort well-blocked by Craig Dawson.

After the break, the travelling Villa fans thought their side went ahead when Danny Ings' saw his effort brilliantly palmed onto the post by Lukasz Fabianski after John McGinn's low corner caused panic in and around West Ham's six-yard box.

However, just four minutes later it was ex-West Brom defender Dawson who missed