Aston Villa will look to keep their slim hopes of avoiding relegation alive on Tuesday night, as they head down south to face Slaven Bilic's high-flying West Ham United.
It's sure to be a difficult task for the Villans, who haven't won a league game away from home since the opening day of the season, part of the reason that they're stuck at the bottom of the table. However, it's not only their away from that's troubled them, as they've claimed just one win back at Villa Park.
Villa in dire straights
This shocking season has left them rooted to the foot of the Premier League, stuck on just 13 points from 23 games, 10 points away from 17th placed Norwich City with 15 games left to play.
However, believe it or not, there has been something of an upturn in form recently. Remi Garde has steadied the ship somewhat, with Villa only losing two of their last seven league games, but only winning one - defeating Crystal Palace 1-0 at home.
Having also seen Wycombe Wanderers off in the FA Cup, they went into the fourth round tie against Manchester City on Saturday riding the wave of a five game unbeaten streak. However, their form quickly came tumbling down, with Kelechi Iheanacho bagging a hat-trick as the Citizens won 4-0.
Happy Hammers could go fifth
West Ham didn't have anything like the disappointing weekend that Villa suffered, as they drew 0-0 away against a youthful Liverpool team in the cup, continuing their impressive debut season under Bilic's management.
They currently sit sixth in the league, and could leapfrog Manchester United into the top five win a win on Tuesday, should the Red Devils slip up themselves. They have been slightly inconsistent recently, a draw and loss following up a three game winning streak, which itself followed up five consecutive draws. Still, with the likes of Dmitri Payet in their ranks, they're overwhelming favourites for this one.
Team news
However, Villa have had a couple of impressive players this season, Jordan Ayew being one of them. He's their top scorer in the league, and looks set to lead the line against the Hammers, with Rudy Gestede and Libor Kozak out injured.
Elsewhere in the team, Carlos Sanchez and Ashley Westwood remain doubtful in midfield, meaning Carles Gil could play as part of the three. Captain Micah Richards may well continue at right-back due to Alan Hutton's hamstring problem. Villa made no signings in January, so there'll be no new faces for them come Tuesday.
One new West Ham man is likely to play, with Sam Byram looking to gain his first league start due to Carl Jenkinson's injury. They made a late loan move for Emmanuel Emenike, but he's still awaiting international clearance so won't be available.
