Matt Maher on Aston Villa's Premier League opening day win
Matt Maher gives his take on Villa's opening day victory over West Ham.
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00:00Good evening from the London Stadium where it finished. West Ham 1, Villa 2.
00:07John Duran getting the match winner and writing the perfect script against a club that it looked like he would be joining last month.
00:14West Ham were very interested in his signature. They made several bids, all of which were rejected.
00:20At one stage it looked like Duran was agitating for the move. He performed a West Ham gesture on social media, upset a lot of Villa supporters.
00:28They would have been very happy at that point for him to be sold. This evening they were very happy he stayed.
00:36Duran got the winner with 11 minutes to go. It looks like, as things stand now, he will be staying at Villa.
00:44Unai Emery, not given a definitive answer after the game, said he didn't know for sure if Duran would stay.
00:52I guess if Villa got a colossal bid for him, they might still sell, but then they'd have to bring in a replacement.
00:59Duran's celebration after scoring looked both an apology and confirmation that he'd quite like to stick around.
01:06One player who is departing, or looks likely to be departing, is Alex Moreno.
01:11Villa have obviously got three left-backs with Ian Martsen, who played a part in the winning goal, having arrived in the summer.
01:21There was always somebody likely to leave, and it was always likely to be Moreno.
01:25He had an excellent first six months at the club after joining in January last year, same month as Duran.
01:31But then a difficult time last season with injuries.
01:34So it looks like he's off, possibly to Nottingham Forest, possibly to Spain. A couple of clubs interested there.
01:42Back to the game, and this was a really encouraging performance by Villa.
01:46They should really have won the game more comfortably.
01:49Amadou Anana heading them in front inside the first four minutes, and they missed some good chances.
01:56Leon Bailey, an open goal perhaps you'd say he missed, but he hit the post from a tight angle when he should have scored.
02:04John McGinn also going close. West Ham pulled it back through a bit of a soft penalty.
02:09But it was always Villa who created the better chances, even though West Ham were in the game and they got the winner from Duran, just like you suspected they might.