Lingard's Debut With West Ham Gemilang, Print Brace To Aston Villa Goal

Jesse Lingard (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Jesse Lingard performed brilliantly in his debut as a West Ham United player to help The Hammers beat the hosts Aston Villa 3-1 in Week 22 of the Premier League at Villa Park Stadium, Birmingham, England, Wednesday local time (Thursday WIB).

Lingard, who recently arrived on loan from Manchester United, marked his West Ham debut with a brace in the win following Tomas Soucek's opener.

The victory left West Ham in fifth position now collecting 38 points and only two points adrift of the top four, while Villa (32) stuck in ninth place, Antara noted on the official Premier League website.

After just 16 minutes of grazing in a West Ham shirt, Lingard almost scored if his curling shot was not tipped over by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Six minutes later, Villa threatens back through Ollie Watkins' cross but Craig Dawson's header goes high over the bar.

In the 27th minute, Villa creates another chance with a Watkins shot which goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski can't reach but hits the post.

Three minutes later, it was Martinez's turn to make a brilliant save to ward off Aaron Cresswell's free kick.

The zero score lasted until halftime and six minutes into the second half West Ham was able to break the deadlock when Said Benrahma's pass was pursued and completed by Soucek to beat Martinez and put the visitors ahead of Villa.

Five minutes later, West Ham doubled the lead with Lingard's first goal calmly controlling Michail Antonio's cross with his chest before firing off a powerful shot that Martinez couldn't stop.

West Ham continued to press and were close to adding to their lead in the 62nd minute if only Antonio's shot which had tricked Martinez was not swept away by Tyrone Mings before crossing the line.

Villa, who slowly began to be able to reduce the waves of guest attacks, managed to score a return goal in the 81st minute through Watkins' shot completing Jack Grealish's bait.

However, West Ham did not give Villa the opportunity to create the momentum of the revival, because two minutes later Lingard scored his second goal using Antonio's ball to seal a 3-1 victory.

The two teams will return to action on Saturday, 6 February when Villa host Arsenal and West Ham visit Craven Cottage to face Fulham.