Claret and blue is one of the most famous colour combinations in all of English football, and Aston Villa & West Ham United are perhaps the two clubs most synonymous with these colours.
Both sides have enjoyed huge successes over the years and a number of players have played for both Villa and the Irons.
Here is Football FanCast's list detailing some of the best players to play for both of these teams in the Premier League era.
John Carew (Aston Villa 2007-2011; West Ham United 2011-2012)
English football fans will remember John Carew best for his time with Aston Villa, but he did have a season at the Boleyn Ground as well.
Carew joined Aston Villa in January 2007 as part of a swap deal with French side Lyon, with Milan Baros being the man to go the other way.
The Norway international reached double figures for league goals on three occasions with Villa, his highest tally being 13 from 32 appearances in the 2007/08 season.
Carew may have failed to make a long-lasting impact on the West Ham faithful but he is certainly a hero of yesteryear at Villa Park.
Carlton Cole (Aston Villa 2004-2005; West Ham United 2006-2015)
If you want a striker that is loved by all West Ham fans, look no further than Carlton Cole.
Cole scored 40 times in the Premier League for the Hammers, on top of an additional 14 during their time in the Championship.
One of his most famous goals for West Ham came at Wembley Stadium, giving them the lead in the play-off final against Blackpool. A young Tom Ince struck back before Ricardo Vaz Te wrote himself into club folklore with the winner.
Prior to arriving in east London in 2006, Cole had a loan spell at Villa from Chelsea, where he made 27 league appearances, scoring three times.
Joe Cole (West Ham United 1998-2003, 2013-2014; Aston Villa 2014-2016)
Next up is Carlton’s namesake Joe Cole, another attacking player that the West Ham fans will have fond memories of.
Cole scored that superb goal against Sweden in an England shirt at the 2006 World Cup and also won three Premier League titles in Chelsea blue. Before that, though, he played for his beloved West Ham just like Frank Lampard did.
The 41-year-old was named Hammer of the Year in 2002/03, a campaign which saw him play all but two top-flight games, scoring four times. However, he was unable to help steer the Hammers clear of relegation. Cole also scored in a 3-2 FA Cup victory over Nottingham Forest that season.
Joe Cole returned to Upton Park a decade after he first left, and after one season there, joined Villa in 2014 in what was a relatively unsuccessful spell for all concerned.
James Collins (West Ham United 2005-2009, 2012-2018; Aston Villa 2009-2012)
Welsh defender James Collins was with West Ham for a long while, though he spent three years at Aston Villa while the Hammers were relegated and promoted back to the Premier League.
He first broke through into professional football as a Cardiff City player, with his first transfer taking him to the English capital.
Collins wasn’t used as regularly as he may have liked, and so, with the 2009/10 season already underway, he jumped ship to the other team in claret and blue.
The centre-back made nearly double the number of appearances for West Ham as he did for Villa, and so is better known for playing for the former. His second spell with Villa isn't one many will recall due to the fact that he only signed a short contract and then got injured almost immediately.
Rachel Daly (West Ham United 2020; Aston Villa 2022-present)
Moving over to the Women’s Super League, where Aston Villa fans must have been on cloud nine watching Rachel Daly last season.
The striker arrived from NWSL side Houston Dash and picked up the Golden Boot having taken up a centre-forward slot for Carla Ward's side. Daly’s 22 goals were rivalled closely by Khadija Shaw of Manchester City, but it was the England star that prevailed.
Daly had been playing her club football in the US for the best part of a decade when she arrived on loan at West Ham in 2020, so fans this side of the pond weren’t used to watching her in action regularly.
Four goal contributions in less than 800 minutes represented a very solid stint in east London, but West Ham didn’t make the move permanent and it was in Birmingham where the European Championship winner truly came to the fore.
Stewart Downing (Aston Villa 2009-2011; West Ham United 2013-2015)
Stewart Downing played over 400 times for Middlesbrough and is a club legend there, as well as representing both halves of this claret and blue duo.
Aston Villa came first for Downing, making the move in 2009 from Boro following their relegation. He was always a player with a bright creative spark that could also find the back of the net himself, and that shone through during his time Villa Park.
Downing’s 11 goals and 13 assists for them is slightly better than his record of seven and 11 respectively for West Ham, with both of these returns coming in 79 outings, remarkably enough.
Marlon Harewood (West Ham United 2003-2007; Aston Villa 2007-2010)
Marlon Harewood played for a number of different clubs but only made more appearances than in his West Ham tenure with Nottingham Forest. The City Ground was his home as a youngster and made the move south to London in his mid-20s.
Alan Pardew was the man to sign Harewood for the Hammers, and he had an instant impact, scoring 17 and assisting 11 on the way to play-off promotion out of the Championship.
Harewood’s form continued up front in the top flight, including a hat-trick against who else but Aston Villa.
After four years with West Ham, the forward joined the West Midlanders but was unable to replicate his form in front of goal. Harewood scored five league goals in the 2007/08 season before spending the majority of 2009 on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United.
Thomas Hitzlsperger (Aston Villa 2001-2005; West Ham United 2010-2011)
After playing youth football in his home country of Germany, Thomas Hitzlsperger joined Aston Villa.
His professional debut came at Villa Park against Liverpool, and following a loan spell with Chesterfield, he was deemed ready to be a regular. Hitzlsperger made over 100 appearances in a Villa shirt, including 10 in the EFL Cup, scoring four goals in that tournament alone.
He left Villa for Stuttgart where he received a lot of praise from the powers that be in Germany in the form of 52 international caps.
The midfielder from Munich spent a single season at West Ham between 2010 and 2011 and was unable to make a notable impact, in truth.
Danny Ings (Aston Villa 2021-2023; West Ham United 2023-present)
Danny Ings is still a West Ham player currently and the jury is still out on him from the London Stadium faithful.
His injury issues have continued over from earlier in his career and the feisty striker has been unable to provide capable support to Michail Antonio, let alone challenge him for a starting spot under David Moyes.
Ings joined West Ham from Aston Villa, and it was definitely the latter club who got the better end of the deal.
He contributed to 22 goals in 52 Villa appearances and then the club from Birmingham secured an eight-figure fee for his services, recouping most of their outlay for him when signing from Southampton in 2021.
David James (Aston Villa 1999-2001; West Ham United 2001-2004)
At the other end of the field, David James also played for both of these clubs, with a mixture of fortunes.
Injuries and relegation struck during his time with West Ham, so Aston Villa perhaps chose the perfect time to sell once again.
James, who earned 53 caps for England, made a combined 186 appearances for these two teams, which is a decent tally no matter what.
Liverpool and Portsmouth were probably his more famous clubs, however, while it has to be said that he was prone to an error here and there.
