Gardner is Villa hero

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The England Under-21 player, who also netted against Tottenham on Monday, settled the issue with his 24th minute free-kick to earn Villa a fourth successive home win.

The first decent opening fell to Villa after five minutes, but Luke Moore failed to make proper contact, while Henri Camara had the ball in the net for the Hammers after nine minutes - but he had used his hand and was yellow-carded.

The Hammers' Robert Green was called into meaningful action for the first time when he parried a low drive from Moore.

Villa had strong claims for a penalty after 13 minutes when Lucas Neill appeared to tug at Ashley Young's shirt, but they were rejected by referee Steve Tanner to leave O'Neill incensed.

It was no surprise when Gardner put Villa ahead after Gabriel Agbonlahor was brought down right on the edge of the Hammers box by Danny Gabbidon.

He drilled a low shot through the Hammers' defensive wall and a deflection off Gabbidon sent it flying past Green.

West Ham tried to retaliate and Freddie Ljungberg's flying header was well saved by Scott Carson, and Villa were soon back on the offensive on the restart and Agbonlahor had a header blocked by Matthew Upson.

But Villa almost gifted West Ham an equaliser after 55 minutes when a poor header by Olof Mellberg went straight to Carlton Cole, who failed to make proper contact, allowing Carson to save.

Young appealed in vain for a penalty when Neill appeared to deflect his cross past the post via his right arm.