West Ham United will get their Premier League season up and running with a draw against Aston Villa, according to Paul Merson.
The Sky Sports pundit believes that the Julen Lopetegui era at the London Stadium will get underway with a draw against Unai Emery’s Villans on Saturday (17 August), predicting that the two sides will play out a 1-1 draw.
Both sides have bolstered their ranks in the transfer window, but Merson isn’t convinced all of the Hammers’ arrivals will be able to gel together on the pitch, despite being a fan of Crysencio Summerville.
Writing for Sportskeeda (15 August) he said: “West Ham have bought well this summer and will be hard to defeat. Summerville was ripping it up in the Championship last season, but he will now be playing against better full-backs – we’ll have to wait and see.
“If you’re City, Arsenal, or Liverpool and you take four out of six points off Aston Villa, that’s a bonus. Those are points that you have gained on your competitors. They’re a difficult team to beat but they’re in the Champions League.
“This will be a long season for them, and they’re not used to it. Some of their players have not played in Europe at all. Aston Villa have a very good manager, however, and that will make a difference.