West Ham transfer target Duran scores Villa winner

West Ham transfer target Jhon Duran hit Aston Villa’s winner at the London Stadium as Unai Emery’s men kicked off their Premier League season with a 2-1 victory.

The 20-year-old Colombian received a talking to from Emery after posing on social media with his arms crossed in an apparent reference to the Hammers’ ‘Irons’ symbol as the clubs tried to negotiate a fee earlier this summer.

But Duran celebrated with what appeared to be an apology in front of the travelling fans after sweeping in Jacob Ramsey’s pass to get Villa off to a winning start.

Villa had opened the scoring after just four minutes when £50m man Amadou Onana made an instant impact with an unmarked header from a corner, but, after Leon Bailey hit a post and John McGinn shot inches wide as Emery’s side looked to double their advantage, the home team hit back.

Matty Cash was incensed when ref Tony Harrington pointed to the spot when he tangled with Tomas Soucek but VAR upheld the officials’ call and Lucas Paqueta coolly sent Emi Martinez the wrong way.

West Ham – second best for the first half hour – suddenly had momentum as they pushed for three points in Julen Lopetegui’s first game in charge, with Soucek seeing a shot blocked after Mohammed Kudus’ ‘Rabona’ cross. But Villa continued to threaten themselves and Konstantinos Mavropanos was forced into a double block to deny Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers.

Villa eventually broke through again. And in a second half which saw two of the most active clubs in the transfer window hand out more debuts, it was Duran, a player who has ultimately stayed at Villa, who made the difference.

There was drama right at the last, when Soucek hooked over from close range in the 97th minute – but the headlines belonged to Duran.

Onana stars on Villa debut

Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp on Amadou Onana’s goal-scoring debut for Villa: “You can see he’s very happy here. The style of football is going to suit him. It wasn’t always easy at Everton. I wanted to see more and we’ve certainly seen that today.

“He’s so difficult to mark, as we saw from every set-piece. Every game was a battle [at Everton], whereas here, he is enjoying it. He seems very settled and incredibly happy. He is such a threat and he showed he can play today.”

West Ham’s attacking approach excites – but leaves them open

Sky Sports’ Peter Smith:

After 30 minutes at the London Stadium, it was tempting to wonder whether West Ham were being bitten by what they had wished for. An array of exciting attacking summer signings, talk of a new approach under Lopetegui and the shackles of the David Moyes era cast off. But the sight of Aston Villa carving through the home side at will.

The visitors really could have been out of sight before the penalty was awarded at the other end. After Onana’s free header from a corner – amid defending which would have disgusted Moyes – Rogers was able to charge through the lines, Bailey was free to run onto a ball over the top before hitting a post, and McGinn should have converted at the end of a swift counter which had the Hammers players all over the place.

But after the equaliser West Ham showed their attacking threat too. Kudus was excellent, Soucek should have scored a couple – particularly in the final seconds when he sliced over from close range – and Crysencio Summerville and Niclas Fullkrug excited off the bench.

The challenge for Lopetegui will be to shore-up the backline while keeping the cut and thrust of the attacking play seen on Saturday. Until he cracks that, it could be a bit of a bumpy ride into this new more cavalier era for West Ham supporters.

Story of the match in stats…

What’s coming up in the Premier League?