Looking to avoid back-to-back defeats, Aston Villa will welcome a struggling West Ham United side to Villa Park for a Premier League contest on Sunday afternoon.

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After a four-game unbeaten run across all competitions to kick-start 2025 on a positive note, Aston Villa suffered their maiden loss of the new calendar year on Tuesday night, when a first-half effort from Monaco's Wilfried Singo secured all three points for the Ligue 1 side in the Champions League.

Nevertheless, the Villans are still in a promising position in the 36-team league phase as they look to seal an automatic spot in the last 16 of UEFA's elite club competition, with the Second City giants sitting in ninth place, level on points with the top eight heading into next week's final round of fixtures.

Focusing on domestic matters, Unai Emery's troops flexed their considerable powers of recovery last time out in the Premier League to force a share of the points at the home of title-chasing Arsenal, who allowed both Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins to find the net in the second half as the game ended 2-2.

Heading back to the Second City for the first time in over a fortnight, Villa will be looking to extend their 10-game unbeaten run at home in the Premier League, with only Mikel Arteta's Gunners (14) enjoying a longer period without defeat in front of their own supporters.

Lying four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea heading into this weekend, the Villans know that Sunday afternoon would be the ideal time to complete a Premier League double over West Ham for the first time since the 2010-11 season after winning at the London Stadium in August.

After over a year out of management following his departure from Chelsea in 2023, Graham Potter decided that West Ham's vacant role represented a good chance to re-enter the scene, but it appears as if the Englishman has jumped right into the Premier League fire in East London.

The 49-year-old commenced his Hammers reign with an FA Cup defeat at Villa Park on January 10, before a pair of top-flight contests at the London Stadium brought mixed fortunes, with the most recent of those matches ending in a sobering defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace last weekend.

Leapfrogged by the Eagles in the Premier League standings, West Ham failed to register on a single shot on the goal of Dean Henderson throughout the course of the top-flight battle, suggesting that Potter's decision to switch to a back-five formation weakened the hosts' attack.

Despite being sadly marooned in mid-table just a few years after their historic Conference League success under David Moyes, the Hammers are in no immediate danger of being dragged into a relegation dogfight this term, with Sunday's visitors to Villa Park 10 points clear of 18th-placed Ipswich Town.

Only Everton (6), Southampton (8) and Ruben Amorim's Manchester United (10) have netted fewer than West Ham's 11 away goals in the Premier League this term, with the East Londoners' sole success on the road in their last five outings arriving at the base of Ivan Juric's Saints on Boxing Day.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Malen, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins

West Ham United possible starting lineup:

Fabianski; Coufal, Kilman, Cresswell; Wan-Bissaka, Alvarez, Soler, Emerson; Paqueta, Soucek; Kudus