Aston Villa are back in Premier League action today with a home clash against West Ham United.

Their previous league outing saw them fall to a 3-1 defeat against Crystal Palace award from home, before beating Bolton Wanderers 4-1 in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

On the chalkboard

One figure that didn't start against Bolton that should be in the side today is Emi Buendia.

The Argentine replaced Philippe Coutinho after 72 minutes in midweek and was able to show his manager why he deserves to be in the starting XI this weekend.

In only 22 touches of the ball, Buendia managed to have one shot on target, complete the one dribble he attempted and make two key passes, which is the same number that Coutinho made in the game having spent a great deal more time on the pitch.

One of those two key passes from the 25-year-old ended up being the assist for Leon Bailey's goal not long before full-time.

The Birmingham Mail picked up on his efforts in the game by saying that Buendia "added energy to Villa" in the second half.

This display ultimately earned the player a respectable overall match rating of 7/10, which is higher than five Villa players that started the game according to SofaScore.

Villa need him

Looking ahead to today's fixture against the Hammers, not only are David Moyes' side yet to secure a win in the league this season, but they haven't even scored a goal yet, which suggests that they will be desperate to pick up a positive result.

With that in mind, it would be worth Gerrard taking a punt on Buendia this time ahead of Coutinho to make sure his side can hurt the east London club defensively, which is what they will need to do if they want to forget about their defeat against Palace and take all three points today.

Lauded by Gerrard in the past as a "warrior" who "puts his body on the line", the Argentina international certainly has the attacking credentials to hurt the Hammers, particularly with only having Ollie Watkins (0.88) registering a higher rate for goal-creating actions per 90 minutes this season than him (0.61).

Taking all of this into account, Villa may well have a better chance of securing a win over David Moyes' side this afternoon if they put the £75k-per-week star in the team from the beginning.