Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the London Stadium

That was weird.

The teams came out and lined up for the handshakes, with West Ham ending up on the right.

Then they swapped round for the coin toss, so Lukas Fabianski was on the left, then they swapped again for kick-off.

Legia Warsaw beat Zrinjski Mostar 2-0 earlier and that puts them onto nine points.

Villa are on six points before today.

We are under way in the 20:00 GMT games in the Europa League and its little brother, the Europa Conference League.

Joe Rindl
BBC Sport at Villa Park

Image source, Getty Images

We've just had a minute of applause around Villa Park in memory of Aston Villa's record appearance maker Charlie Aitken who passed away at the age of 81 last month.

During his 17 years with Villa, Aitken made 660 appearance, 657 of which were starts.

And he was part of the Villa side who went from the first to the third division and back again between 1967 and 1975.

"He reminded us to cherish every memory and embrace the fun side of football," is written in Villa's programme.

West Ham shuffled their pack for the trip to Athens. Not tonight.

David Moyes names a strong side as the hosts aim to end a poor run of just one win from their past six matches.

Rachel Brown-Finnis
Ex-England goalkeeper on TNT Sports

Liverpool arguably didn't deserve the equaliser tonight.

The quality in the play and the build up all came from Toulouse. They justifiably shot into the lead, their fans were all on their feet creating quite the noise.

Perhaps that is the reason Liverpool didn't perform?

Nevertheless they were in second gear both in and out of possession, and never really got going - that is why in the end they did not get the result.

Angelo Ogbonna feels it is important that West Ham take things "game by game" in this busy period of the season.

The Hammers have been on the wrong end of tight scorelines in the Premier League and in Europe in recent weeks and the defender sees the home game against Olympiakos as a good opportunity to bounce back.

"We're enjoying our time in Europe. It's very good for the club. Unfortunately, our [record undefeated] run came to an end against Olympiakos, but we're still at the top of our group and we're looking forward to the game," said the 35-year-old.

"Every competition is very important. We're not just looking at one competition. We play in one of the toughest leagues in the world, but we're looking at things game by game.

"We will try to do our best to bounce back from the defeat at Brentford. We want to play well and perform in every game, and every game is different."

The pre-match light show at London Stadium further ramps up the atmosphere in a 56,000 sell-out.

The Hammers fans are in fine voice, belting out Forever Blowing Bubbles as the players line up in the tunnel.

They know it is a vital game for West Ham.

Image source, Getty Images

Aston Villa captain John McGinn said his side want to "write our names in the history books" by ending the club's long wait for a trophy this season.

Villa's last trophy was the 1996 League Cup, 27 years ago.

"Hopefully at the end of the season we can be proud of something we've done," said McGinn.

"We have three opportunities [Premier League, FA Cup and Europa Conference League] to break that spell of Aston Villa teams not having any silverware.

"We are embracing the Conference League. We know we are one of the biggest teams in the competition but that doesn't mean we can just turn up."

Joe Cole
Ex-Chelsea and England midfielder on TNT Sports

I think it was a handball.

It was a strange situation because we were all wondering what was going to be the decision given the handball happened quite a while before the goal went in, but the ref got it right.

Much to the dismay and frustration of Liverpool fans and players, it was the right call.

Red Event Games: Football is a complete joke now - Referees have lost control of the game. Give it back to them instead of VAR ruining it for the teams, players and fans.

Daniel: Liverpool fans can have no complaints. It was handball, simple as that.

Rachel Brown-Finnis
Ex-England goalkeeper on TNT Sports

The game was a slow burner but it did catch fire in the end didn't it?

A great finish by Quansah who thought he had equalised but I think it was rightly ruled out in the end.

He showed real determination to get his side back in the game, like I said a good finish from the defender, but it is a handball.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the London Stadium

Virtually every Premier League club does a light show before the teams come out for night games these days.

No-one else has the glowing red light of the Orbit Slide behind it.

Image source, BBC Sport

Villa boss Unai Emery: "I respect a lot AZ Alkmaar and they are a winning team. They are winning a lot of matches in their league and they were successful last year in the Conference League.

"They have experiences in Europe and they have players with international experiences.

"It’s very important for them because we won the first match there.

"For us it’s very important because we can try to increase the difference with AZ Alkmaar and it’s a key moment to stay in front of them."

Aston Villa look to go a step closer to the Europa Conference League knockouts tonight.

But a defeat would leave them in big trouble.

Villa are on six points, level with leaders Legia Warsaw, but only three points above the other two teams - including AZ.

West Ham's defeat in Greece a fortnight ago ended their 17-match unbeaten run in Europe - which was a record for an English club.

Despite the disappointing result, the Hammers remain top of Group A in the Europa League and well on course for the knockout stages.

"The crowd were phenomenal for Olympiakos, they played an enormous part and I have to be honest and say that on the day we didn't perform," said manager David Moyes.

"We didn't play well, nowhere near our standards our levels. I wouldn't hide that at all. I'm looking for much better tomorrow night.

"We're going out there, we want to be in Europe after Christmas, if we can win tomorrow night we might have got ourselves in one of the tournaments, whether it's the Europa League or the Conference. I want to make sure we get the wins and qualify."

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the London Stadium

Reaching the semi-finals of this tournament two seasons ago and winning the Europa Conference League last term, West Ham are clearly determined to go deep into European competition for the third season in a row.

Victory tonight would take them to within two points of achieving that with a couple of games remaining.

Given he acknowledged his team did not play well in Greece a fortnight ago, David Moyes will expect West Ham to deliver tonight.

Angelo Ogbonna scored an own goal in West Ham's 2-1 loss to the Greek side in an intense atmosphere in Athens two weeks ago, but wants to focus on what they can do at London Stadium.

"They have very passionate fans and it's something we really saw over there. For now, we're focused on tomorrow. We need to play our game and focus on the three points," he added.

"We had a bad game over there. We want to focus on our game, and we didn't play or perform the way we want to perform. We respect them, of course."

Head here for the latest West Ham news.

West Ham admit they have revenge on their minds after claiming Olympiacos over-celebrated following their Europa League victory a fortnight ago.

The Hammers players were also targeted with laser pens by home supporters during the bad-tempered 2-1 defeat in Athens.

"It wasn't a good performance from us, admittedly," said midfielder James Ward-Prowse on the Iron Cast podcast.

"We left a lot out there, which is a frustrating feeling to have.

"The way they reacted after they won the game - you could hear it down the corridor - we spoke about it and said it's a good opportunity coming to put that right and show them something."

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Stone
BBC Sport at the London Stadium

Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis has just been spotted by the TV cameras in the London Stadium.

Marinakis also owns Nottingham Forest, who weirdly, play here in the Premier League on Sunday.