BIRMINGHAM, England:

West Ham United opened their Premier League goals and points account for the season as a deflected effort by Pablo Fornals sealed a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa today (August 28).

The Spaniard took aim from 25 metres in the 74th minute and his effort looped in after hitting Villa’s Ezri Konsa.

It was reward for an improved second-half performance by West Ham who offered little before the break.

Villa were hardly much better in a turgid first half although they did have the ball in the net early on when Konsa got on the end of a Lucas Digne corner but the ball had gone out of play.

The victory lifted West Ham off the foot of the table into 17th place with three points, the same as Villa.