Premier League Game of the Week: West Ham and Aston Villa headline a short matchday

Are there two teams in the Premier League more similar than West Ham and Aston Villa? Think about it. They're both over-performing mid-table sides. They're both being coached toward excellence by managerial savants who crashed and burned in their first big Premier League gigs. They're both wildly forward-thinking, driven by Brazilian midfielders with an eye for key passes. They're both buoyed by underrated English strikers. They're both destroying the European competitions they're featured in. They even wear the same colors. Our Premier League Game of the Week isn't just a clash of Europe-bound entertainers: it's a full-on doppelganger situation.

Aston Villa dominated the reverse fixture when these teams met in October: Douglas Luiz, Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey all found the back of the net in a 4-1 victory. That game took place right smack in the middle of Villa's epic undefeated home run and West Ham's unseemly autumn collapse. The teams are far more level now than they were then. Villa lost key players to injury; West Ham saw key players return. While it's difficult to place which side has more momentum, the fact that West Ham is improving while Villa struggles is a clear sign that the Hammers might have a touch more bite this time around.

Villa, though, might be lifted by the thought of what it has to gain. While West Ham sits pretty in seventh and pushes Man United for lower-tier European spots, Villa is in a dogfight to the death with Spurs for a fourth-placed finish and a Champions League berth. Last weekend's embarrassing, head-smacking 4-0 defeat to Spurs left a clear opening for its rival to pass through. Villa must be relentless if it hopes to hold Ange Postecoglou's men off.

So who will prevail in the battle of the Premier League's claret and blue twins? Here's what we're looking out for as the two teams prepare to face off at the London Stadium:

Result. The mirror-image quality of this match screams draw, and that could pay out nicely for bettors willing to heed that call. A draw of any stripe is available at +275; a scored draw (interesting especially given how West Ham scored five and Villa scored four in midweek action) is available at +333.

Goals and Assists. West Ham's Mohammed Kudus scored twice against Freiburg on Thursday; his mazy runs could come back to trouble Villa quite a bit on Sunday. Villa tends to protect its right flank through box-to-box midfielder John McGinn, but he won't be available for selection against the Hammers — he lost his head and got red carded in Villa's loss to Spurs. Kudus, then, will have plenty of space to bomb down Villa's right and challenge fullback Matty Cash. We like Cash quite a bit around these parts, but he's more of an offensive asset than a defensive one. We like Kudus to score or assist at +150; bettors can also spring for him as a goalscorer alone for slightly higher odds of +275.

Scoring by Half. Neither West Ham nor Aston Villa follow any sort of reliable goalscoring pattern — they score all the time and concede just as often. Betting on either to score in both halves could be an interesting way to take advantage of their chaotic nature. West Ham is available at +225; Villa is available at +200.