The Europa League may sound like little more than an overcomplicated rebranding of the Uefa Cup to you and me, but it certainly seemed to be behind a lot of joy and pain at Villa Park on Saturday.

Both these teams may end up in the competition next season, but as far as Aston Villa are concerned, it is a depressing no-consolation-at-all prize for missing out on the Champions League, while for West Ham United, it is an unexpected bonus at the end of a campaign that offered little promise before Christmas.

Villa regarded a ridiculously open and entertaining match as just one more example of their recent failures to get the results that their play has deserved, having taken only three points from their past eight games. “Typical of the last three months,” Curtis Davies, the central defender, said. “We defended set-pieces reasonably well all day and, unfortunately, coming towards the end, possibly the worst one of the lot ends up in the goal. For us as players — and the fans — because we’ve been fourth, and we’ve been there for so long, and looking so strong in that position, obviously it’s a tough pill to swallow.”

West Ham are so delighted at the prospect of finishing seventh that Gianfranco Zola, the manager, is to be rewarded with the offer of a new four-year contract. “The new contract is very good for me, and not just financially,” he said. “You see that the club appreciates what you’re doing.”

Chances had come and gone for both sides when Emile Heskey slid home his second goal for Villa from James Milner’s cross after ten minutes, so it was a surprise that a second goal did not arrive until five minutes from time when Diego Tristán, who had looked off the pace for 85 minutes, diverted in a shot by Kieron Dyer that was going wide.

“He’s the only one who can play up there and has physical presence that can really occupy the attention of defenders,” Zola said.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): B Friedel 7 — L Young 6, C Cuéllar 5, C Davies 5, N Shorey 5 — J Milner 6 (sub: C Gardner 81min), S Petrov 6, G Barry 6, A Young 7 — E Heskey 6 (sub: N Delfouneso 70, 5), J Carew 5. Substitutes not used: B Guzan, S Sidwell, Z Knight, M Salifou, N Reo-Coker. Booked: A Young, Petrov. Next: Bolton (a).

West Ham United (4-4-1-1): R Green 6 — J Tomkins 6, J Collins 5 (sub: K Dyer 32, 6), M Upson 7, H Ilunga 5 — L Boa Morte 6, L Neill 6, M Noble 7, J Stanislav 7 (sub: S Nsereko, 74) — D Di Michele 5 (sub: F Sears 80) — D Tristán 4. Substitutes not used: J Lastuvka, W Lopez, J Payne, Z Hines. Booked: Noble, Boa Morte, Upson. Next: Chelsea (h).

Referee: R Styles Attendance: 39,534