West Ham gained their first win of the season in a 0-1 away win against Aston Villa after both sides had struggled for form.
It was a game which could have been a turning point for both sides in a game that lacked real quality throughout.
It was the Hammers who had a slice of luck as Pablo Fornals' shot deflected off Ezri Konsa and looped over Emiliano Martinez and into the Villa goal.
The Villains are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and to further their defensive woes they conceded West Ham's first goal of the season - prior to the game they were the only club in England's top four leagues yet to score.
Both sides were poor in the final third but it was West Ham who made their own luck and are now level on points now with Aston Villa.
Story of the match
Aston Villa began the game with four changes following their defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park with Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey and Jacob Ramsey all dropping to the bench whilst Tyrone Mings missed out entirely through illness.
This meant starts for Danny Ings, Philippe Coutinho, Douglas Luiz and Calum Chambers in a team set up similar to the formation played in their only win of the season against Everton.
For West Ham it was a revert to a system of old; a transition from the 4-2-3-1 they are used to playing into a 5-3-2 with a first start handed to their new striker Gianluca Scamacca and new signing Emerson Palmeri.
The side from East London made three changes following their 2-0 defeat to Brighton last weekend as Ben Johnson came into the defence to make the usual back four back five as Aaron Cresswell moved into left centre back.
A cagey opening
The first half was a wave of Aston Villa pressure who dominated the half with just under sixty percent possession, four shots and 314 passes - 105 more than their opponents.
The home side did manage a goal following a corner in the 13th minute - a well worked routine with the dead ball whipped in by Lucas Digne with such power for Coutinho's header to ricochet off the post for Konsa to tap into an empty net- but the ball was whipped in with such power it curled out of play and so the goal was ruled out.
However, despite the positives that the hosts can be taken from their first half, they failed to create any more real chances. Everything Villa created went through Coutinho but they were never able to convert their momentum into a goal.
West Ham were happy to sit in their shape and allow Steven Gerrard’s side to come onto them despite injury to Johnson in the 21st minute. His substitution was like for like in Vladimir Coufal.
It took 30 minutes for West Ham to even gain a corner, which was quickly taken and claimed by Martinez.
Three minutes later at the other end, Coutinho went for goal from 25 yards out, with his shot landing straight at Polish shot stopper Lukasz Fabianski, this was one of Villa's better chances.
Finally on the stroke of half time came the away side's first shot, a header back to Fornals from Scamacca led to the Spaniard's first time volley which was struck well wide, the poor quality behind the finish was a snapshot of the ability shown in the half.
The first half could be summed up very easily, for the Hammers it was a poor attacking half but positives could be taken defensively, yet for Villa it was a disappointment as despite all their pressure they didn't create any more than the occasional half chance.
An end to end second half
The first half was a poor watch yet the second half was like a different game in terms of energy.
Said Benrahma came on for the impressive Emerson as West Ham moved back into their usual back four.
One minute after the interval and the visitors gained their first corner of the half, but it went into Martinez's hands again.
Despite this, the Hammers’ tempo had been upped and their passes flowed better.
The same could be said for Villa, for the first five minutes of the half they had numbers forward and got their crosses in - but still the quality lacked as none beat the first man Kurt Zouma.
Following a widely more entertaining ten minute opening to the second half the first real chance came in the 55th minute.
A Villa free kick the ball was cleared out of the box and what should have been an easy ball to control for captain John McGinn became a nightmare as he gave the ball away to Jarrod Bowen who got onto his left past Matty Cash.
Yet, following the free kick he took going wrong, Digne made an excellent recovery run to block the left footed effort in the box from Bowen in a huge let off for the home side.
West Ham kept knocking at the Villains’ door as Scamacca had his first real half chance 20 yards out straight at the keeper.
The away team had really grown in confidence and desire following half time and it showed as their possession increased by nearly 16 percent.
Gerrard’s substitutions also failed to change the game. Their first was an enforced one as their star man Coutinho went down injured after playing the ball, off with Luiz in the 65th minute.
The Brazilian was replaced by Buendia but after this point the home side failed to create as much as a half chance.
Luiz was also taken off at this point, he didn't look too impressed with Gerrard's decision to bring on Jacob Ramsey for him and reverting back to a midfield they have used in losses to Bournemouth and Crystal Palace and ultimately led to their loss of control in midfield.
The deadlock was finally broken as West Ham made their pressure count. At one point it did look like Villa would score against the run of play as Buendia made a defence splitting pass to Danny Ings but his pass was claimed by Fabianski in the 71st minute.
In the 74th minute there was elation for West ham as they finally got to celebrate a goal this season.
Declan Rice got his first assist this season as he ran forward and found Fornals in acres of space. The injury hit Villa defence failed to engage with the attacker who hit his shot 20 yards out, which deflected of Konsa and looped over the Argentine keeper for the only goal of the match.
Fornals had managed to continue his rich vein of form against the Villains, having netted against them in both games last term.
In the 75th minute the ball was pulled back to Cash, but his left footed effort blazed over the bar.
As the game approached the final ten minutes, Benrahma crossed into the box but the effort was just over the head of Bowen.
Late on in the tie, substitute Leon Bailey’s effort curled high and wide as he made a run into the box.
The game ended in a desperate penalty shout from Ollie Watkins who went down after a cross came in but Coufal made such minimal contact that the shout was waved away.
Player of the match
There are not many players to choose for player of the match due to some of the lack of consistent quality in the game.
Either one of West Ham's two central defenders (Thilo Kehrer or Kurt Zouma) could have made a claim for the award, as could the goal scorer Fornals due to the magnitude of his goal.
Ultimately however, the player of the match was the recently signed Kehrer.
In only his second game in the league, he had great passing accuracy and was able to transition in and out of a back five and four and nullified the attack of Villa throughout the game.