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Aston Villa beat Fulham at Villa Park to move up to fifth in the Premier League and boost their chances of playing in a European competition for the first time since 2010.
Tyrone Mings scored the crucial goal, his first in the league since November 2021 with a glancing header following John McGinn’s excellent inswinging corner.
Fulham saw Andreas Pereira fire an acrobatic volley into the side-netting after only 30 seconds, but struggled to create further clear-cut chances.
Unai Emery’s Villa are now unbeaten in 10 Premier League matches and this victory takes them above Tottenham and five points behind third-placed Newcastle United, although they have played two games more.
They have not played in Europe since losing to Rapid Vienna in the Europa League play-offs in August 2010.
Villa maintain resurgence under Emery
For Villa, it continues a remarkable turnaround since these two sides met on 20 October, with Fulham winning 3-0 at Craven Cottage.
Then-Villa boss Steven Gerrard was sacked within an hour of the final whistle, with the club 17th in the table having won only two of their opening 11 games.
Emery came in at the start of November and the club have since won 13 of their 20 league games and were last beaten 4-2 by league leaders Arsenal in February.
But now European football could well be back at Villa Park for the first time in 13 years – and Emery’s men were good value for their win.
Ollie Watkins appeared to have a good shout for an early penalty after a challenge from Tosin Adarabioyo, but neither on-pitch referee Thomas Bramall, nor video assistant Tony Harrington, felt it was worthy of a spot-kick.
Watkins also had an effort saved by Bernd Leno, Emiliano Buendia had a shot blocked and McGinn was frustrated by Leno as Villa pushed for a second goal.
With Manchester City and Manchester United, both already guaranteed European football next season, meeting in the FA Cup final, a top-seven finish will take Villa into Europe.
Fifth or sixth would take Villa into the Europa League group stages, while seventh would leave them in the Europa Conference League play-offs.
And it’s all in Villa’s hands.
They still have to play fellow European contenders Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton, as well as a west Midlands derby at Wolves, in what promises to be a thrilling final five matches for their fans.
More to follow.
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Aston Villa
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Squad number1Player nameE Martínez
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Squad number18Player nameYoung
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Squad number4Player nameKonsa
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Squad number5Player nameMings
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Squad number15Player nameÁlex Moreno
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Squad number32Player nameDendoncker
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Squad number6Player nameDouglas Luiz
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Squad number7Player nameMcGinn
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Squad number10Player nameBuendía
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Squad number41Player nameJ Ramsey
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Squad number11Player nameWatkins
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Squad number9Player nameTraoré
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Squad number16Player nameChambers
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Squad number27Player nameDigne
Fulham
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Squad number17Player nameLeno
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Squad number2Player nameTete
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Squad number4Player nameTosin
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Squad number13Player nameReam
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Squad number33Player nameRobinson
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Squad number6Player nameReed
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Squad number26Player nameJoão Palhinha
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Squad number8Player nameWilson
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Squad number18Player nameAndreas Pereira
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Squad number11Player nameSolomon
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Squad number21Player nameJames
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Squad number7Player nameKebano
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Squad number10Player nameCairney
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Squad number12Player nameCédric Soares
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Squad number14Player nameDe Cordova-Reid
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Squad number30Player nameCarlos Vinícius
Line-ups
Aston Villa
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1E MartínezBooked at 88mins
- 18YoungBooked at 74minsSubstituted forChambersat 85′minutes
- 4Konsa
- 5Mings
- 15Moreno LoperaSubstituted forDigneat 77′minutes
- 32Dendoncker
- 6Douglas Luiz
- 7McGinn
- 10Buendía
- 41J RamseySubstituted forTraoréat 77′minutesBooked at 89mins
- 11Watkins
Substitutes
- 3Santos Silva
- 9Traoré
- 16Chambers
- 22Durán
- 25Olsen
- 27Digne
- 38Sinisalo
- 56Revan
- 58O’Reilly
Fulham
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 17Leno
- 2TeteSubstituted forCédric Soaresat 68′minutes
- 4Tosin
- 13Ream
- 33Robinson
- 6ReedSubstituted forKebanoat 83′minutes
- 26João PalhinhaBooked at 79mins
- 8WilsonSubstituted forDe Cordova-Reidat 17′minutesBooked at 45mins
- 18PereiraSubstituted forCairneyat 68′minutes
- 11SolomonSubstituted forAlves Moraisat 67′minutes
- 21James
Substitutes
- 1Rodák
- 5Duffy
- 7Kebano
- 10Cairney
- 12Cédric Soares
- 14De Cordova-Reid
- 28Lukic
- 30Alves Morais
- 31Diop
- Referee:
- Thomas Bramall
- Attendance:
- 41,046
Live Text
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Match ends, Aston Villa 1, Fulham 0.
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Second Half ends, Aston Villa 1, Fulham 0.
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Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Foul by Carlos Vinícius (Fulham).
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Offside, Fulham. Tim Ream tries a through ball, but Carlos Vinícius is caught offside.
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Attempt missed. John McGinn (Aston Villa) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Douglas Luiz.
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Bertrand Traoré (Aston Villa) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Foul by Bertrand Traoré (Aston Villa).
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Antonee Robinson (Fulham) wins a free kick on the left wing.
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Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa) is shown the yellow card.
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Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Carlos Vinícius (Fulham).
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Attempt blocked. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Emiliano Buendía.
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Substitution, Aston Villa. Calum Chambers replaces Ashley Young.
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Lucas Digne (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Dan James (Fulham).
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Substitution, Fulham. Neeskens Kebano replaces Harrison Reed.
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Offside, Fulham. Tosin Adarabioyo tries a through ball, but Harrison Reed is caught offside.
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Attempt missed. Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner.
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João Palhinha (Fulham) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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