ASTON VILLA
Emirates FA Cup third round, Villa Park, Friday 10 January 2024, 8pm GMT
West Ham United head to Villa Park to take on Unai Emery’s Aston Villa for the second of two consecutive away fixtures, with this one coming in the Emirates FA Cup third round.
Incredibly, this will be the first meeting between the two clubs in the competition since 8 March 1980, when Ray Stewart’s last-minute penalty secured a 1-0 quarter-final win for the Hammers at the Boleyn Ground. Two months later, the Irons won the FA Cup for the third time in the Club’s history.
Prior to that, Villa had won a fourth-round tie 3-0 at Villa Park in January 1977, while the first-ever meeting between the clubs was a second-round tie in February 1913, which top-flight Villa won 5-0 against the Southern League West Ham at Villa Park.
West Ham have won the FA Cup three times, in 1964, 1975 and 1980, and reached two other finals, while Aston Villa have won it seven times, most recently in 1957, and reached the final four other times, most recently in 2015.
How to get there…
The address for your sat nav is Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham, B6 6HE. However, there is next to no parking available at the ground and a traffic exclusion zone is imposed around the stadium on matchdays from two hours prior to kick-off until up to 60 minutes after the final whistle.
Official parking is available at Aston Social Club in Aston Hall Road (postcode B6 7JU) and Powerleague Birmingham in Lichfield Road (postcode B6 7TG).
Any supporters with accessibility requirements should contact our Disabled Liaison Officer on 0333 323 1874 for information on disabled parking. Parking needs to be booked in advance of the match.
For those travelling by train, the nearest stations are Witton and Aston, both of which are on lines from Birmingham New Street. There are direct trains from London Euston to New Street on Friday, and also slower services from London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street, from which you can walk to New Street.
With the game being played on Friday evening, you will likely need to book an overnight stay if you are travelling by train from London.
Where to stay…
If you want to make a weekend of it in Birmingham, you are best off staying in the city centre, where you will have the full choice of accommodation, food, drink and entertainment options.
If you fancy somewhere a bit different, the Convention Quarter contains Brindley Place, a vibrant area full of shops, hotels, bars, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs, or why not try Digbeth, which has been transformed from Birmingham’s industrial heartland into a distinctive, trendy and creative area full of independent traders.
What to do…
Birmingham has something for everyone, as you expect from the country’s second largest city.
In addition to the pubs, bars and restaurants, there are attractions galore for you to visit if you're making a weekend of your visit to the West Midlands.
The Birmingham Back to Backs are a National Trust run court of back-to-back houses that were home to working-class residents in the 19th century, while the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull charts the history of British motorcycles.
If you have a sweet tooth, head to Cadbury World in Bourneville to learn how the world-famous confectionary is made, or if fish are your thing, visit the The National SEA LIFE Centre Brimingham in the city centre.
The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has recently partially reopened after refurbishment.
What’s happened there before…
As mentioned in the introduction, we have lost on both our previous FA Cup visits to Villa Park, but won our most-recent meeting in this competition, albeit that was 45 years ago.
Our best Premier League result at Villa Park was a 4-1 triumph in October 2021, when Ben Johnson, Declan Rice, Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen were on target.
Our best-ever result at Villa Park was a 5-1 First Division victory scored in April 1927, when Vic Watson (two), Stan Earle, Joseph Johnson and Jimmy Ruffell shared the visitors’ goals.
Overall, our biggest win over Villa came in August 1958, when Ted Fenton’s newly-promoted Hammers thrashed their opponents 7-2 in the First Division at the Boleyn Ground, where Vic Keeble, John Dick and Malcolm Musgrove each scored twice.
