Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins scores twice as Unai Emery’s team overcome injury crisis to reclaim top-four place

The last time that Aston Villa came to Craven Cottage, their manager was sacked before they had even boarded the team bus back to Birmingham. Not a chance of that happening this time around.

That was October 2022 when a 3-0 win for Fulham signalled the end of Steven Gerrard’s time as Villa boss with the side in 17th. For his replacement Unai Emery, this win put his side back in the top four, thanks to a superb brace by Ollie Watkins.

Despite Rodrigo Muniz pulling one back for Marco Silva’s side, Villa held on for only their second league win in 2024.

They had come into this fixture with just eight points from their last seven games and having lost three of their last four in all competitions after a dreamy start to the season.

Though given their injury crisis, Emery admitted that he had not gone through such a situation before in his managerial career, with so many of his key players on the sidelines.

Ollie Watkins scored twice for Aston Villa during their victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage

Watkins was also able to deal with a flare thrown by celebratory Villa fans during the match

Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz pulled one back, but Villa held on for their second league win of 2024

Here, he was forced into two changes from the team that lost to Manchester United with Diego Carlos and Boubacar Kamara ruled out. 

Kamara is set to be out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury and the Villa players came out with shirts saying ‘Reste Fort Bouba (Stay Strong Bouba)’ for their teammate. In came Pau Torres, for his first start since December, and Youri Tielemans.

Fulham remained unchanged from their win over Bournemouth last week though Armando Broja was absent with illness. Unfortunate for Fulham and unfortunate for Sylvinho and Pablo Zabaleta – the manager and assistant manager of Albania – who had made the trip to London to follow Broja.

Both sides had goals ruled out from Ollie Watkins and Tim Ream in the first 20 minutes for clear offsides but the home side only had themselves to blame when Watkins broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute.

A careless throw-in from Antonee Robinson put Willian under pressure in his own half and Jacob Ramsey won the ball back before smuggling the ball to Ollie Watkins who finished wonderfully into the bottom corner.

Minutes later, Leon Bailey nearly doubled the advantage with some terrific footwork to bamboozle Robinson before unleashing a dipping strike that went past Bernd Leno and rattled the crossbar.

Watkins then nearly turned provider as a marginal offside call denied Alex Moreno following a lengthy VAR check after he nodded in at the back post from Watkins’ flick-on.

And Youri Tielemans should have finished when Watkins played him through on the brink of half-time but the Belgian’s shot was saved by the feet of Leno.

Villa only had their wastefulness to blame for not getting a second in the first half and Marco Silva turned to the returning Alex Iwobi at half-time to restore some control, with Willian making way but it initially failed to have the desired effect.

Villa were too quick and the clinical Watkins made it two with a devastating finish just before the hour mark after he was played through by Tielemans for his 13th Premier League goal of the season.

Aston Villa players wore ‘Reste Fort Bouba (Stay Strong Bouba)’ shirts for Boubacar Kamara

Marco Silva made four changes as Fulham sought an equaliser, but they could not find it

Pre-match, Unai Emery said he had never experienced an injury crisis like the one at his club

For Watkins, it was his 23rd goal involvement in the Premier League this term – behind only Mohamed Salah (24) and from there, it should have been plain sailing for the visitors.

Yet out of nothing, Rodrigo Muniz pounced on an error by Clement Lenglet with a smart finish to pull one back and shift the momentum as Craven Cottage found its voice and Iwobi made his mark on the game.

Silva made four more changes in the hunt for an equaliser as Harry Wilson came close with a volleyed effort before Iwobi was denied by Emiliano Martinez.

Yet the best chance came in added time with Adama Traore put through on goal by Muniz, but Traore’s strike was straight at Martinez as Villa held on for a crucial three points.