Matthew Lewis/Getty Images More West Ham United Stories {{#articles}} {{item.title}} Aston Villa take on West Ham United in a pre-season friendly this evening. West Ham United starting line-up: Adrian; Zabaleta, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Rice, Noble, Wilshere; Antonio, Anderson, Arnautovic. West Ham United substitutes: Trott, Byram, Diop, Fredericks, Cullen, Obiang, Haksabanovic, Snodgrass, Martinez. West Ham United are back in pre-season action this evening as they travel to take on Aston Villa at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium, just days after drawing 2-2 away at Preston North End. The Hammers have named a suitably strong side as they face another Championship side tonight, with Adrian in goal once again as Lukasz Fabianski continues to wait for his first West Ham game. Roy Keane and the growing links to Celtic Pablo Zabaleta, new signing Fabian Balbuena, Angelo Ogbonna and Arthur Masuaku line up in defence, with Declan Rice moving into midfield alongside Mark Noble and Jack Wilshere. Record signing Felipe Anderson is handed a first start, joining Michail Antonio and Marko Arnautovic in a three-man West Ham attack, though Andriy Yarmolenko isn’t in the squad at all. Ex-Villa loanee Robert Snodgrass is on the bench, alongside Nathan Trott, Sam Byram, Issa Diop, Ryan Fredericks, Josh Cullen, Pedro Obiang, Sead Haksabanovic and Toni Martinez, with Jordan Hugill once again missing. In other news, Paul Merson thinks Tottenham Hotspur chairman has advantage over Harry Kane<doc-sep>Keep on top of the Villa - sign up here for free AVFC updates Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now Aston Villa’s latest pre-season test sees them take on Premier League West Ham United at the Banks’s Stadium this evening. The two shades of claret will face off at the home of Walsall FC as preparations continue ahead of the new Championship season, which kicks off for Villa on Monday, August 6. Villa could be watched on by new owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens for the first time tonight - the two businessmen, who acquired a controlling 55% stake in the club at the end of last week, were shown around Villa Park for the first time this afternoon and so could attend the friendly. While Villa are yet to make a single signing so far this summer because of Financial Fair Play restrictions, the visitors have been extremely business this window. Newly appointed boss Manuel Pellegrini has snapped up free agents Jack Wilshere and Ryan Fredericks, as well as adding the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson. Former winger Ryan Snodgrass could also feature against the side where spent last season on loan. Not at the game? You can watch the match from the club’s official YouTube account via the video above. Sell-on Adama Traore is closing in on an £18m move to Wolverhampton Wanderers - and the transfer means that Aston Villa are set for a timely cash boost. Wolves have been particularly busy in the transfer window in the last 48 hours, having brought in both Joao Moutinho and Jonny while also permitting left wing-back Barry Douglas to talk with Leeds United having accepted a bid. Now, Nuno Espirito Santo is set make another signing in what was expected to be a busy week at Molineux - that of Traore, who caught the eye in the Championship for Middlesbrough last term. The pacy winger, who came through Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, only arrived on Teesside two summers ago after a single year at Villa Park, but Boro’s failure to achieve promotion alongside Wolves last season has led to significant interest from the top flight and now a move is expected to be finalised, reports the Sun . While the exact percentage of the sell-on fee that Villa will benefit from is unspecified, BirminghamLive understands it to be a significant one. Dr Tony Xia confirmed the sell-on at the time of Adama’s sale, when he tweeted: “We’ll also get benefits from Adama becoming great in the future as deal settled.” Reports at the end of the season suggested that the Villa sell-on clause was worth 20%, meaning that they could be set for a figure in the region of £4m. The Spaniard, who the claret and blues did well to nullify in the two-legged play-off semi final, made only 12 appearances during his time at B6 and scored once - in a League Cup win over Notts County. Adama, 22, had also previously been courted by Huddersfield Town. Manager Tony Pulis, after Boro’s 4-3 defeat at Accrington on Saturday, admitted that there were no guarantees that the winger would be remaining at the Riverside. “Well we can’t fight it off, if it’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen so he’s a terrific lad and someone who I’ve got the time for and a lot of respect for,” Pulis told the Gazette . “Obviously I’ve got a soft spot for the kid. I think everybody is relieved that’s the case. “But football’s football, you’re at a football club who have sold players before, that’s what happens and you can accept it and the important thing is to find players who can come in and replace them if they do go. “There’s no definites in football, what we’ve got do is make sure if we lose players, then we bring good ones in because that’s important for everybody at the football club.” Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now Ho's goodbye Rongtian He says he will stay at Aston Villa for as long as possible - but if it doesn’t work out he’ll be back on the Holte End. Aston Villa superfan He - also known as Ho - began his love affair with the claret and blues at the age of 12 and initially landed a job within the club’s media team in his early twenties. However, Tony Xia’s arrival at the club two years ago saw Ho step up to become the Recon frontman's personal assistant and play a key role in big decisions. In recent months, as the cash crisis unfolded, Ho’s role took on extra importance as Xia’s eyes and ears with the embattled Chinese owner in Beijing. It is understood that Ho one of two staff members, along with chief commercial officer Luke Organ, who delivered the news to director of football Steve Round that he’d been sacked. With Xia’s influence at Villa Park now marginalised following Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens’ takeover, Ho and Tracy Gu have been removed from the board. Tweeting following the announcement on companies house, Ho said: “Will stay as long as possible to serve this club which I truly love. If anything change in the future it definitely won’t stop me back to UK regularly to buy a ticket sitting in the Holte End.” Prior to joining Villa as a social media executive Ho travelled to games as a fan while studying at Loughborough University. Pictured Aston Villa’s new owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are at Villa Park for the first time today. Sawiris and Edens were being shown around the grounds by club officials at around lunchtime on Wednesday afternoon. While delegates walked in front of Villa’s two new money men, Sawiris and Edens strolled casually at the back and appeared deep in conversation.<doc-sep>West Ham take on Aston Villa at Walsall's Bescot Stadium this evening (Wednesday) in their fourth pre-season friendly over the summer. Manuel Pellegrini has overseen one win, one draw and one defeat so far in three games s we reach the halfway stage of the pre-season campaign with games against Ispwich Town, FSV Mainz and Angers still to come before the Premier League season kicks off on August 12 at Anfield. The Chilean manager has unleashed £42m club-record signing Felipe Anderson at the Bescot Stadium this evening in slightly different surroundings than the Brazilian will be used to. Fellow newboy Fabian Balbuena also starts in defence alongside Angelo Ogbonna, with Declan Rice looking like he will play in a midfield role at the Bescot. New goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is not in the squad after starting training with his new club this week. Michail Antonio also makes his first appearance of pre-season after overcoming a hamstring injury that has kept him out for all of the campaign so far and the back end of last season as well. Aaron Cresswell is still not considered fit enough to play after a groin injury. (Image: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images) Pablo Zabaleta gets the start at right back with Ryan Fredericks on the bench, while summer recruit Andriy Yarmolenko is being rested. Javier Hernandez and Cheikhou Kouyate are still absent after their World Cup exertions this summer, while long-term absentees Manuel Lanzini, Andy Carroll and Winston Reid obviously won't be involved. Jack Wilshere will also continue his build-up of fitness, having been given 45 minutes at Preston North End at the weekend. You can follow live updates of the game via our live blog below, with our Hammers writer Sam Inkersole live at the Bescot Stadium. The blog will automatically refresh so you don't need to keep refreshing the page yourself to get the latest updates. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android. Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.<doc-sep>Villa’s pre-season preparations continued tonight against West Ham United. Shortly before the match, Aston Villa renewed their commitment to current manager Steve Bruce in a short statement. Villa deployed their preferred 3-man defence to start the game, and looked patient and progressive - owning the pitch in the first five minutes, before things quickly turned against them. Despite Villa’s best efforts - including a smart Alan Hutton volley, West Ham quickly took the lead. Michail Antonio won the ball on the right flank before driving forward, through Albert Adomah and Alan Hutton before lashing it home past Jed Steer. Villa’s defensive woes seemed to leak onto the other side of the pitch, where James Bree was found wanting in possession as the Hammers slowly targeted him throughout the first half. West Ham were rewarded in the form of their goal through this, as Marko Arnautovic found too much time and space in the box - and buried home for West Ham’s second. Villa sleepwalked into the half-time whistle two goals down and lacking inspiration. Far too often the ball was found pondering outside the West Ham box and far too often was a West Ham counter started by one of Villa’s own due to errors. In the second-half, Villa met back up with Robert Snodgrass - with the former loanee playing on the opposite side of the pitch. While he was in a new-look shirt for a new(ish) team - Villa set out with the same intent as the first-half; waiting for West Ham to turn on the style and advance. In typical pre-season nature, Villa retracted and allowed West Ham to own the park before introducing all of their returning World Cup stars - including Mile Jedinak, Birkir Bjarnason and Ahmed Elmohamady to the fold. Villa’s back-three suddenly included one senior-centre back, in a way - via the aforementioned Australian. James Bree and Alan Hutton made up the partnership on either side of him. Truth be told, it’d be harsh to be, well, harsh on Villa for their performance in a pre-season friendly, but this was a walkabout of ‘I am going to walk to Mordor to destroy the One Ring’ proportions. VIlla’s only serious attack of intent ended in a thunderous strike from Andre Green to give Villa a way back into the match following West Ham’s goal in which Robert Snodgrass added an easy third for the Hammers. Eh - it’s preseason. We’ll have to take the good with the bad and trust Villa to push forward when the ‘actual football’ starts, and use these opportunities to iron out some glaring errors in the set-up, which lacks solidity at the back and gusto going forward. Match Information Result: Aston Villa 1 - 3 West Ham United Context: Pre-season friendly Goalscorers: Who? Man of the Match: What?<doc-sep>
West Ham take on Aston Villa in their fourth pre-season friendly of the summer on Wednesday evening but not at Viilla Park, but at Walsall's Bescot Stadium just down the road. Club-record signing Felipe Anderson and fellow new recruits Fabian Balbeuna and Lukasz Fabianski are expected to be a part of the travelling squad heading to the Midlands to continue their preparations for the season ahead. £42m signing Anderson has had a week's worth of training under his belt now and if Jack Wilshere is anything to go by, that should be enough for the Brazilian to get at least a 45 minute run-out at the Bescot later. The same applies for Balbuena as both started training at the same time with their new teammates. Wilshere himself will continue his quest for fitness after featuring in the first half of the 2-2 draw with Preston North End last weekend and Robert Snodgrass looks set to face up to his former club this evening. Manuel Pellegrini has plenty of options to choose from now thanks to his summer spending splurge with a much better depth chart in his squad, so here is how we think he might line the team up this evening. Having played a game on Saturday, Pellegrini could either keep those players involved to build their fitness up or give them a rest and get others involved. We've gone for a mix of both. We've gone for Lukasz Fabianski to get the nod in goal at the start this evening as he targets a debut for the club following his £7m move from Swansea City earlier this summer. Aaron Cresswell should feature at the Bescot having got over a groin injury that has kept him out of the pre-season games so far. Pablo Zabaleta could start at right back though we've plumped for Ryan Fredericks as the manager tries something new. (Image: Lynne Cameron/Getty Images) We've picked Declan Rice to play a holding midfield role, something we haven't seen much of this season, but we've put him there so Angelo Ogbonna can get some minutes alongside Issa Diop, who has had a couple of shaky outings so far. Snodgrass should line up against his former club and Andriy Yarmolenko will play more advanced because we think that Felipe Anderson will make his long-awaited debut this evening. To be honest, the line up could be completely different to one we have gone for but that is the beauty of pre-season and having a much larger squad to choose from than what we have seen in recent seasons in east London. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android. Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.