Emerson's second-half header earned West Ham a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, as Graham Potter's team produced a much-improved display at Villa Park.

The wing-back crept round the back to nod Edson Alvarez's cross home on 70 minutes as Villa's midweek Champions League exploits seemed to catch up with them.

An excellent Jacob Ramsey goal had given the hosts the lead inside 10 minutes before they lost defender Tyrone Mings to a worrying knee injury.

But Unai Emery's side appeared to run out of gas after half-time and the Hammers came on strong, with Danny Ings and Lucas Paqueta both going close to a winner.

The draw sees West Ham move 11 points clear of the bottom three, while Villa remain eighth, four points behind fourth-placed Manchester City.

Data Debrief: Hammers show signs of life

An injury list featuring Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Sumemrville, Niclas Fullkrug and Michail Antonio meant Graham Potter fielded Paqueta as a false nine at Villa Park.

And while he will wish a couple of his side's best chances had fallen to natural marksmen, West Ham's new boss will be encouraged by a display that saw them rack up 14 shots and an xG of 1.39.

The Hammers came on particularly strong after half-time, posting 1.06 of that xG tally in the second period, and they also dominated in terms of final-third entries, touches in the box and big chances.

Villa ended up with just 45.6% of the possession and mustered one shot on target in the second period.

They did score a fine opener early on, though, with Watkins becoming just their second ever player to be directly involved in 100 Premier League goals, after Gabriel Agbonlahor.