David Moyes must unleash a rarely-seen partnership of Michail Antonio and Sebastien Haller when West Ham United host Aston Villa on Monday night.

Moyes has been full of praise for Haller’s rejuvenation in the absence of Antonio, who has missed the Hammers’ last three Premier League fixtures with a hamstring injury.

Antonio is back in training ahead of the visit of Dean Smith’s Aston Villa to the London Stadium, and could make his return to action depending on how the 30-year-old fares in training in the build-up to kick-off.

Antonio began the season in fine fashion with goals against Arsenal, Leicester and Manchester City, but has been unable to build on those efforts whilst the Hammers extended their buoyant run to just one league defeat in seven.

Haller initially struggled to step in and fill the void created by Antonio’s injury, with the 26-year-old not finding the back of the net until the 56th-minute of last Sunday’s 1-0 win at Sheffield United after firing blanks at Liverpool and against Fulham.

But Moyes has been comfortable with the newly-crowned Ivory Coast international’s overall performances and believes West Ham are seeing what they need to see.

“The three games that Antonio's been out, Seb's played and we're really pleased with what he's done,” Moyes said at his pre-Aston Villa press conference. “We wanted goals from him, we wanted assists and we wanted really good general play. I'm looking forward to having both him and Michy firing.

“He's [Antonio’s] joined in in training a couple of days. We're trying to see how he is. It's just great to get him back out on the training pitch with us at the moment.”

Pairing Haller with Antonio has been a rare sight in east London since Manuel Pellegrini spent a club-record £45million on the former Eintracht Frankfurt striker in 2019.

The Chilean coach only named a two-striker formation for three of West Ham’s league fixtures in what proved to be his final campaign at the London Stadium, yet opted for Felipe Anderson alongside Antonio against Chelsea before pairing the English hitman with Haller against Southampton and Crystal Palace.

Moyes, likewise, has been opposed to naming two strikers in one of his starting XIs since returning to east London, with the former Manchester United boss only utilising multiple centre-forwards in three top-flight matches.

Only once in those three fixtures has Moyes paired Haller with Antonio, as well, having opted for the duo against Arsenal in March, but partnering Antonio with Robert Snodgrass at Man City in February and Haller with Manuel Lanzini at Leicester in January.

Haller would find it inconceivable if he were to now be dropped after netting the winner at Sheffield United last week, in a performance featuring four shots, three key balls and 12 aerial duels won, per WhoScored. So, should Antonio be passed fit, there is no reason why Moyes should think of anything but pairing the two together against Aston Villa.

AND in other news, David Moyes would not be getting his next Tomas Soucek in a £16m West Ham target likened to David Luiz.