Morning Star international editor ROGER McKENZIE reminisces on how he became an Aston Villa fan, and writes about the evolution of the historic club over the years

SATURDAY evening’s lacklustre display from West Ham effectively ended any lingering hope they had of getting seventh place and qualifying for Europe.
The team selection against a travelling Everton side seemed odd from the off, with Javier Hernandez, whose double strike in the last game rescued the points, left on the bench together with skipper Mark Noble.
The manager it seemed preferred out of sorts Lucas Perez and Pedro Obiang — both substituted at half time.
The game was just four minutes old when Kurt Zouma arrived unchallenged to head home Gylfi Sigurdsson’s corner.
Lukasz Fabianski then pulled off a double save from Richarlison.
On the half hour mark, Everton doubled their lead, when Seamus Coleman got in front of Aaron Cresswell to cross for Bernard to side-foot home.
Everton were by far the more fluid side and should have won by more. The closest they came to adding a third was when Richarlison saw his header from a corner bounce back off the bar.
West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini thought the performance “the worst of the season.”
“It was very bad, the way we conceded the goals and they could have had more,” said Pellegrini.
Everton manager Marco Silva was pleased with his side’s fourth clean sheet in five games.
The manager thought it one of Everton’s most consistent performances.

