Aston Villa V West Ham - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.Sherwood: Allardyce in demandAston Villa chief Tim Sherwood believes Sam Allardyce would be in demand if he leaves West Ham at the end of the season.The 60-year-old's position as manager at Upton Park has come under increased scrutiny with his contract expiring in the summer.The Hammers have already denied they have approached Jurgen Klopp, who will leave Borussia Dortmund in the summer, to replace the ex-Bolton boss.Sherwood faces Allardyce at Villa Park on Saturday and reckons his opposite number would attract a lot of interest if he was available."It's up to them to make that decision but there'll be no shortage of takers for Sam Allardyce," he said."We're up against a manager who is the second longest serving manager in the Premier LeagueHe has kept West Ham in the top half for many years and we have to respect the fact they have good players."They are combative but they also have a lot of quality players, they have pace and if we take care of our jobs we should be okay."We know West Ham score more headed goals than any other team in the league because they get it wide and cross it
There's nothing wrong with that, that's what we do for Christian Benteke and that's why he's starting to score."Gabby Agbonlahor will return for Aston Villa after almost a month on the sidelines.The forward has been out with a hamstring injury but will be in the squad as the hosts battle for survival.Nathan Baker and Ciaran Clark (both knee) are out while Sherwood must decide whether to keep faith with Shay Given after the keeper made his first league appearance since 2012 in the win over Everton last week.West Ham defender Reece Burke will have to be at the top of his game to contain Aston Villa's "unstoppable" Christian Benteke on Saturday, admits Allardyce.Burke has registered consecutive clean sheets in his first two Barclays Premier League starts against QPR and Burnley, but the 18-year-old faces his toughest test yet against Benteke this weekend.Benteke has hit form at just the right time for Sherwood's side, scoring eight goals in his last six games, and Allardyce admits the Belgian striker will pose a serious threat at Villa Park."Tim has got Benteke back on form
He's a goalscorer that we all know when he's in confident mood he can be unstoppable," Allardyce said."It will be Reece's most difficult test I think
He had a very difficult test in his last away performance against QPR's (Charlie) Austin and (Bobby) Zamora."Austin has been free-scoring in the Premier League and Zamora has great strength and ability as well, so Reece has had to make sure his reading of the game is spot on."His physical presence is not as good as Zamora's and it won't be as good as Benteke's."He'll have to be very clever along with James Collins to cope with a man who is in form at the moment."The job for the rest of the team is to stop the supply, stop the crosses, and if we do that hopefully we can repeat the result from last year, which was a win."A poor run of form means West Ham are currently 11 points adrift of the top six but the Hammers could still qualify for next season's Europa League after England was granted an extra place for coming second in UEFA's fair play rankings.Europe's second tier competition is often criticised for the effect its Thursday night matches have on league results and West Ham would be entered into the first qualifying round, scheduled for July 2
Source : DSG
Source: DSG