MATCHDAY: West Ham, Aston Villa meet after convincing starts

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This article was published 29/11/2020 (2113 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A look at what’s happening around European soccer on Monday:

ENGLAND

Aston Villa is at West Ham and looking to maintain its perfect away record in the Premier League which has helped lift Dean Smith’s side to eighth. The central England team, which only secured its top-tier survival on the final day of last season, has enjoyed wins on the road at Arsenal, Fulham and Leicester without conceding a goal. But West Ham is only a point behind Villa. Despite being without Michail Antonio for more than a month, Sebastien Haller has stepped into the role up front and David Moyes’ east London side is on a two-match winning run. After losing to champion Liverpool last weekend, fourth-place Leicester hosts Fulham, which has only four points from nine games. Defenders Ricardo Pereira and Caglar Soyuncu, and midfielder Wilfred Ndidi are close to returning from injury for Leicester but may only be ready for the Europa League trip to Zorya Luhansk on Thursday.

SPAIN

Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis hosts Eibar in need of a victory and a good defensive showing after losing four of its last five matches. In those defeats, Betis has been outscored 14-2. Pellegrini is trying to rebuild a team without Spain midfielder Sergio Canales, who injured a tendon two weeks ago with the national side. He is expected to be out until 2021. Betis is in 14th place, while Eibar is 16th. Eibar has improved over the last two months, however, and lost only one of its last six matches. It will be without defender Paulo Oliveira and forward Quique González, who are both injured, and suspended striker Kike Garcia.

ITALY

Genoa and Parma face each other in a relegation fight and with both teams missing a number of players through injury. Genoa is in the bottom three, above last-place Crotone and level with Torino. Parma is just a point above the drop zone. Torino is also in action and will still be without coach Marco Giampaolo, who has the coronavirus, when it hosts Sampdoria. Torino, Genoa and Parma have all won only one of their eight league matches this season.

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