Aston Villa 1-0 Fulham
It is hard to believe that seven years have passed since Fulham beat Aston Villa in the Championship Play-off Final.
On that memorable early evening Ryan Sessegnon, the London club's top scorer, enabled Tom Cairney to notch the only goal midway through the first half. Villa could not find an equaliser even after Denis Odoi was sent off with twenty minutes remaining.
The two sides met again last Saturday (3 May), wearing their traditional colours. This Villa Park fixture may have lacked the Wembley setting but it was no dead rubber. Both clubs had expressed ambitions of qualifying for next season's European football and fans had every reason to expect a hard-fought match.
Early in the proceedings Timothee Robinson announced his return from injury with a crude foul on Marco Asensio. After referee Rob Jones had expressed his disapproval the match proceeded with yellow cards but no serious incident.
Sessegnon made an early breakthrough only to discover that there was no-one to profit from his centre. This set the tone for a strangely underpowered performance by the visitors.
Villa dominated the first period winning a succession of corners. From the third of these an unchallenged Youri Tielemans headed the home side into the lead. Harry Wilson the player nearest to him had no hope of preventing the goal.
Subsequently Bernd Leno's alertness frustrated a Tielemans/Watkins move and Calvin Bassey prevented another goal by overcoming Morgan Rogers.
Marco Silva's subsequent comment that after the interval his players displayed 'in some moments good, good quality' was an admission of a lacklustre first half. Rodrigo Muniz and Andreas Pereira were absent through injury and no-one seemed keen to fill the gap. Villa had the upper hand in a tepid contest.
Apart from the goal the only real highlight before the interval was Leno's flying save from Tielemans and the German's broad smile when Mr Jones awarded a goal kick.
The second half opened with Watkins squandering another chance, after which Fulham came to life cheered on by the travelling fans. The players have a record of wiping out deficits and it seemed that Sessegnon had equalised, only the ball had struck his hand.
The visitors' improvement was sufficient to provoke Unai Emery into an extraordinary pantomime rant at his own player Ezri Konsa. Marco Silva, calm by comparison, collected another yellow for challenging the officials.
Silva's substitutions proved less effective than usual and the unfortunate Harrison Reed injured himself shortly after coming on so that Fulham finished with ten men.
This probably did not affect the result as Emi Martinez will have scorned the few efforts made against him. At the other end Leno deftly stretched out a leg to prevent Watkins from scoring and Donyell Malen hit the bar late in the game, saving the Whites from a heavier defeat.
Fulham have three more matches, all of them in the metropolis, and they can still qualify for Europe. Individually the quality is undeniable but doubts linger about the depth and the stamina of the present squad.
Fulham Women claim league title
Congratulations to Fulham FC Women. After their disappointing withdrawal from the League Cup Final they secured the 2024/25 London and Southeast Regional Women's Premier Division league title with their tenth successive victory, a 6-0 dismissal of Sport London E Benfica.
This historic match was played at the Cottage during the Bank Holiday weekend.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
