"I never look at their form, honestly. All I know is that I've spent this week building up more and more to how Aston Villa are going to play. If West Ham haven't got an impressive away record, that really is their manager's problem, it's not mine at all."
He then went on to say that West Ham are really not top of the table stuff, something Hammers fans might disagree with: "West Ham have been one of those teams who have always been just that one result away from finally shrugging off the relegation battle.
"It's good to not see them in the bottom three because I felt the reaction to Glenn Roeder's appointment was way over the top. The press had him as a dead man before he even started."
Personally, I think that West Ham and Villa are two similar teams, and not only in terms of shirt colour. They both contain a mixture of quality and average players, and can beat anyone on their day, but likewise they can lost to anyone on an off-day.
In the three seasons prior to last season, West Ham and Villa were placed within three points of each other - with Villa edging the Hammers with points. And with the teams only four points apart at the moment, it appears not much has changed in the past four seasons - despite Villa's huge spending.
Taylor is keen to note that there are some useful players at West Ham though: "But like all Premiership teams, they contain quality players who can hurt you. We have to strike the right balance of being aware of that but taking the game to them."