Villains Can Be Irons' Heroes!

At the end of last season Aston Villa managed to survive relegation by the skin of their teeth, their cause helped in no small measure by West Ham beating all the Villain's fellow relegation strugglers.

This season, despite an early flourish, Villa's European competition aspirations have been blunted, but they secured their Barclays Premier League survival way ahead of schedule, and had it not been for their main man Jack Grealish picking up a long term injury who knows how far they might have progressed.

By a strange twist of fate, Hammers euro aspirations are very dependent on the results of not only our own games, but also by Villa's. The Midlanders play Manchester United, Everton, Tottenham and Chelsea among their remaining fixtures, the results of which have a massive significance on Hammers' unlikely push for Europe.

On paper Hammers European Championship chances are between zero and none now, following the disastrous results against Newcastle and Chelsea, however, if the Villains can take points off of those teams in and around the top six they would effectively be playing for the Irons, a situation that would cause much confusion to John Terry the second in command at Villa Park.

With West Ham players currently 'dropping like flies', Mark Noble being the latest addition, the team needs all the help it can get, and although it is an unusual source, it is to be hoped that the Villains can 'do their bit' to get the Irons into Europe. - Ed