How Aston Villa needed this, a first league victory of the season easing the increased weight of expectation in these parts. A nervy Europa League win over Bologna on Thursday offered a slim platform on which to build and this week Unai Emery reiterated the Premier League remains Villa’s priority.
Fulham punished Villa for another flat start with Raúl Jiménez heading in from a corner inside three minutes but Ollie Watkins’s first goal of the season and two strikes across two second-half minutes, courtesy of John McGinn and Emiliano Buendía, earned a comeback victory.
Prior to his 36th-minute goal, Watkins had two forgettable touches – as many as Jiménez who was withdrawn more than half an hour earlier with an injury sustained when he opened the scoring from Sasa Lukic’s corner – and Villa as a team failed to penetrate Fulham.
That changed when Lucas Digne pinged a long pass between Calvin Bassey and Joachim Anderson and Watkins spied an opportunity to pounce, deftly looping a bouncing ball over Bernd Leno close to the penalty spot. Bassey charged towards the goal-line to clear but his momentum left him tangled in the Fulham net and instead Watkins could finally celebrate, this his first goal since the second week of May.
Now Villa were in their stride, McGinn clipping a breezy pass over the Fulham back line for Morgan Rogers, whose first touch prevented him from a one on one with Leno. Emery hopped on the touchline, arms freewheeling like a mannequin. Digne saw a free-kick saved by Leno on the verge of half-time, at which point Emery introduced Buendía in place of the former Fulham midfielder Harvey Elliott, who struggled to impose himself on his first Premier League start for Villa.
Buendía immediately busied himself and had a hand in McGinn’s strike that gained Villa the lead. Lamare Bogarde, preferred to the fit-again Boubacar Kamara at the base of midfield, harried Adama Traoré, who replaced Jiménez, and then Buendía shifted the ball on to McGinn. The Villa captain seemingly only had eyes for goal and buried a left-foot shot into the bottom corner.
Two minutes later Buendía added another, prodding in after reading Watkins’s cutback from the left. Emery punched the air incessantly, the frustration flooding out with each celebration.
Villa have been anything but watertight of late and there was a customary scare when, a couple of minutes after Buendía’s strike gave Villa breathing space and seconds after Watkins lost his footing when shaping to shoot in the box, Josh King intercepted Emi Martínez’s loose pass. Traoré located Lukic, whose goal-bound shot was kept out by a desperate Ezri Konsa block.
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The 18-year-old King was outstanding until Watkins’s leveller but was booked for simulation midway through the first half after he sought a penalty having nudged the ball past Martinez. Marco Silva seethed on the touchline as a fourth straight win in all competitions drifted from view. McGinn departed to a standing ovation when replaced by Kamara and Villa held on for a welcome victory.
