Aston Villa 3 Fulham 1: Unai Emery’s side close gap on top-four with impressive win with Cottagers struggling in 16th

5 months ago 57

UNAI EMERY’S Villa made it 13 home league wins on the spin to equal their best run for 40 years.

This hard-fought but deserved victory sent Villa into the international break just two points off second-placed Liverpool – making a mockery of Emery‘s claim that his men will struggle to make the top seven!

Aston Villa cruised to a 3-1 win[/caption]

Antonee Robinson scored an own-goal to give the Villans the lead in the first half[/caption]

John McGinn doubled Villa’s lead just before half time[/caption]

Leading two-nil at half-time, they survived some second-half Fulham pressure, before Ollie Watkins added a third.

And though Raul Jimenez ended his 34-game goal drought midway through the second half to pull one back it was scant consolation for Marco Silva‘s side.

Villa’s weary stars trudged off at the end, heavy-legged after their Thursday night heroics against Alkmaar proud of a job well done.

There was a pre-match tribute to World Goalkeeper of the Year Emi Martinez who was invited to take a bow with his son prior to kick off.

As the Argentine World Cup winner kissed the prestigious Lev Yashin award and held it aloft, Villa fans in the Holte End unveiled a huge banner featuring their No.1 to mark his achievement.

It was a nice touch of showbiz – even if it did appear to tempt fate one week after Martinez made a rare blunder to gift Nottingham Forest a goal in last week’s defeat.

But Villa are a different beast at home and they were soon asking serious questions of Fulham’s defence.

Moussa Diaby had a first time hit from 10 yards beaten away by Bernd Leno.

Ollie Watkins scored the third to give Aston Villa a comfortable lead[/caption]

But he missed a header from close range in the late stages[/caption]

Moments later Villa thought they had earned a penalty when Ollie Watkins’ shot appeared to strike Timothy Castagne’s raised arm and referee Simon Hooper pointed to the spot.

However VAR intervened and invited Hooper to take another squint on the trackside monitor.

To the frustration of Villa fans it turned out Castagne had been telling the truth when he protested that the ball had struck his face.

However they reacted furiously when the giant screens in the stadium showed a replay of the incident, which at first glance appeared to prove Castagne’s arm made the block.

The result was a seriously cheesed off home support who gave the man in black, Hooper, pelters for the rest of the afternoon.

Their mood improved though when Villa took the lead just before the half hour mark.

Douglas Luiz‘s through ball sent Tielemans clear and when he centred Diaby distracted Leno as he lunged for it.

In the confusion the ball struck hapless defender Antonee Robinson and crashed off him and landed in the back of his own net.

That made the left-back the first player in the Prem to score more than one own goal this season.

Leno then had to save from Matty Cash before John McGinn doubled the home side’s lead just before half-time.

Raul Jimenez scored a consolation goal with 20 minutes left to play[/caption]

The Scot pounced on a clearing header from Robinson and neatly side-stepped Paulhinha before drilling the ball low into the bottom corner to bag his third goal in five games.

Marco Silva sent on Harry Wilson for Bobby De Cordova-Reid at the break and Fulham briefly rallied.

But Martinez showed his class by getting the faintest touch to divert Raul Jimenez‘s effort onto his post and Willian fired over from the rebound.

Paulhina was booked for a foul on McGinn and Fulham coach Goncalo Pedro followed him into the book for his protests.

However Villa wrapped up the points when Ollie Watkins added a third just beyond the hour, to end a sweeping move he started.

Willian‘s corner was nodded clear by the England striker and when Robinson dallied on the ball he was robbed by Bailey who combined with McGinn to set up Watkins.

The Villa striker had hared from his own penalty area and was there to finish with a simple tap-in from inside the Fulham six yard box.

Fulham grabbed a consolation goal when Wilson sprang Villa’s offside trap and Robinson squared for Raul Jimenez to tap in his first Premier goal for 18 months!

Then sub Carlos Vinicius raced through on goal and rounded Martinez to net, only to be flagged offside.

Watkins proved he is human late on after heading wide from three yards with the goal at his mercy.