19 October 2024
Fulham 1 Aston Villa 3
Marco Silva’s side welcomed Aston Villa to Craven Cottage. The hosts were unbeaten at home this season, while Unai Emery’s side could boast the same stat for their travels. Something had to give seemingly if either team wanted to take all the points in the capital. These are the sort of games you need to win if you have any hopes of being a top four team, that is for sure.
As the visitors looked to start on the front foot, Leno booted the ball downfield. Jimenez held off Carlos and struck his shot into the bottom corner to give The Cottagers the lead with only five minutes on the clock. It is not often you see an assist from a keeper and this might have been the most ‘route one’ goal of the season. Not that it mattered to the home fans.
Jimenez has now scored 7 goals in 7 games at Craven Cottage. He was finding the form that made him one of the most potent strikers in the Premier League when he was at Wolves. Sadly their lead lasted all of four minutes. Rogers came through the middle and looked to try his luck from outside the box. Bassey turned his back on him and it took a big deflection off the defender, wrong-footing Leno.
It is baffling to see so many defenders taking this approach to defending nowadays. Rather than trying to close down the player, front on, and putting your body on the line. For the money they are paid, these players should be willing to put their lives on the line. As Bassey showed, you have no idea where it is going when you are not looking and are as much a danger to your own keeper as the shot itself.
The game continued to be an end to end affair. Fulham forced a corner and Jimenez met the cross. His header went narrowly wide of the far post. Upon seeing the replay, it underpinned what a huge missed chance it was, a free header from four yards out. With the form he is in at the moment, he should have restored his side’s lead.
Tielemans then came forward for the visitors and spotted the run of Watkins. He slotted him in and only had Leno to beat. As the England man looked to dink it over the Fulham keeper, he made himself big and did well to save. However, the striker we saw last season at Villa would have slotted that home with ease. Form is temporary, class is permanent eh.
The Cottagers continued to pepper the visitors’ box with crosses. Jimenez met another but it was seemingly blocked by Cash. He appealed for a penalty but the referee waved away his protests. That is until VAR sent him to the monitor and he changed his mind. As he pointed to the spot, there was a huge cheer from the home faithful.
Pereira stepped up to take it and took one of the worst penalties we have seen this season. You could be forgiven for thinking it was Anthony Gordon in disguise. It was the simplest of saves for Martinez in the Villa goal. The hosts had spurned a massive chance to go into the break with the lead. Jimenez will be wondering why he wasn’t asked to take the spot kick.
Aston Villa carved out another chance before the interval but unbelievably Rogers struck his half-volley wide. He had done everything right until the finish. With the form he has been showing for both club and country this season, it was a terrible miss. Neither side seemed to want to take this game by the scruff of the neck.
Emery’s side must have been given the hair-dryer treatment at the break as they came back out looking like a different team. Despite the tight angle, Ramsey managed to get a good shot off at goal but Leno clawed it behind for a corner. As the cross came in, Watkins met it with a bullet-header which was past Leno before he could even react.
Then came the turning point in the game. As a Fulham attack broke down, Tielemans played a sublime pass through the hosts’ defence into the path of Watkins. As he skipped past Andersen, the defender decided he had no option but to bring him down. As the last man, there was only ever going to be one outcome and he was given his marching orders.
Down to ten men, The Cottagers were up against it. Diop, who had been brought on due to the sending off, then sealed the result. As a cross was whipped in, he met it at the near post and turned it past his own keeper to double the lead for Aston Villa. This was turning into an afternoon to forget for Marco Silva and his team.
Nelson tried to create something to make it a nervy end to the game for the visitors. As he skipped past Philogene, he bundled the Fulham player over. Having received a yellow card moments earlier, the referee decided he should get first crack at the visitors’ showers. It was all too late for Silva’s side and they suffered their first home defeat of the season. Villa moved up to fourth in the table as a result of this win, their best start to a top-flight campaign since 1998.
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