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Three 0-0 draws in a row now, with our next trip away at Villa park, hoping to pick up all three points and avoid the ‘christmas hangover’ the players may have.

Just to start off, I would like to say a huge congratulations to club captain and legend Mark Noble for being awarded with a testimonial for what he has done since joining West Ham, and what an honour it has been to have a player like him at the club, with the passion and hard work he puts in to every game.

We may not have scored in our last three games, but this shouldn’t be a reason to worry, considering the injuries we have and the fact that all of our dangerous attacking players are out.

It is good news on the Lanzini and Payet front, with Lanzini hopefully back for the Southampton game, and Dimitri Payet returning to training this week, which could see him return as early as the Liverpool game.

As for Reid and Moses, they should resume training in a few weeks time, but unfortunately Diafra Sakho will be out until late March, which is difficult to take.

The last of the absentees is big man Andy Carroll, who faces a late fitness test to see if he will be fit for the Villa game, but we will most likely line up the same as we did at Swansea.

Villa are definitely a side we should be beating, but you never know what will happen with us! They have only accumulated a total of seven points this season and are yet to win a home Premier League game, so we should be looking to exploit that and go there with a game plan to win, not to sit off for the draw like we did at Swansea last weekend.

They haven’t been great at the back, but they do possess a threat going forward, with the likes of Scott Sinclair being one of their better players so far this season.

Ginge was excellent last week, and earlier this week he signed a new two year contract with us, which myself and many others were thrilled about!

It is difficult to find many defenders that play the way he does, putting his body on the line for anything that’s thrown at him, which is excellent to have.

Although we have a lot of significant injuries at the moment, I think the trio of Song, Kouyate and Noble will come out on top against a weak Villa midfield, and then with the likes of Antonio and Zarate, we can do some serious damage to their defence.

The only thing that worries me is the fact Jelavic will most likely be starting up front on Saturday, and if he performs like he did last week, I cannot see him possessing much threat.

However, saying that, he did work very hard and credit to him for that, so who knows what might happen!

As I said, I do not think that we will change from last week, so if you missed it, here is how I think we will line up…

Our back four and Adrian had a fantastic game last week, and have done for the last three games, so let’s hope they can keep that going and gain another clean sheet. As for Antonio, he still awaits a first Premier League goal, so this should be a match he looks to capitalise and really make his mark on.

I never leave without a prediction, so I am going to go with a 0-3 win to the Hammers! Bold I know, but I just think they are there for the taking at the moment!

Visit Frank’s blog here, and be sure to follow him on Twitter at @FrankWHUFC. Or you can also visit his new YouTube channel here.

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