Aston Villa 3-1 Fulham
Not even Marco Silva can save Fulham from the curse of Villa Park – the club has achieved just one victory in their last 21 visits.
At the start of Sunday's game Unai Emery's team were near the foot of the table with three draws and a single goal from five League matches. The Whites had won two games and drawn two in the same period.
Ollie Watkins, so often the scourge of Fulham, was reputedly off the boil and had played nearly eight hours without scoring. It was time for the Londoners to end the melancholy series of defeats in that historic Midlands arena.
The absence of Kenny Tete and Rodrigo Muniz though unfortunate surely represented no obstacle to an away win.
With the match in its earliest stages Ryan Sessegnon won a corner and Raoul Jimenez superbly anticipated Sasa Lukic's delivery, flicking the ball past Emiliano Martinez. How could the players have guessed that this was the peak of their fortunes? The Mexican had hurt his back and he left the field in the 11th minute. Fulham's hopes now rested on the striking power of Adama Traore.
Josh King displayed his precocious ability by foxing Lamare Bogarde but shot weakly. At the other end the defence again made a hash of playing from the back, allowing John McGinn an open goal, which he wasted. Neither of these incidents mattered as much as what followed.
Traore released King for another run at Martinez. The keeper dived for the ball and the young forward tumbled, causing referee Andy Madley to blow his whistle and brandish a yellow card – at Josh King. Endless replays of the moment cannot dispel doubts about the ref's decision but I fear that In his very brief career the forward has already been branded a diver.
Undaunted Josh made a further onslaught and his fierce drive caught Matty Cash's left arm. The officials saw no reason for a penalty. Marco Silva's reactions were predictable and earned him yet another yellow card.
In a calmer mood after the game he defended King ('We have a great talent on our hands and he is not a player who likes to cheat') and criticised the lack of consistency.
Silva recalled a recent handball decision that had penalised Ryan Sessegnon ('Against Chelsea we had a penalty given against us for a similar thing'). Justified as those claims may be, at least VAR had ignored the inevitable wrestling match (McGinn v Sander Berge this time) that might have distracted Martinez, and the officials later rejected an optimistic penalty demand from Ollie Watkins.
Fulham had no excuses for the slipshod defending in the second half that turned the match and gave Villa fans something to cheer. It was painful to watch Joachim Andersen misjudge Lucas Digne's long clearance, allowing Watkins to lob his long-awaited goal.
King continued his mission but as the Times put it 'Fulham no longer had the freedom of B6'. The Whites seemed to lose all their impetus. Villa's Emi Buendia who had replaced the colourless Harvey Elliott promptly made a goal for McGinn after Traore had been robbed of the ball in his own half.
Now it was Villa running rampant in B6 and Digne and Watkins were given space on Fulham's right side to create a 51st minute goal for Buendia.
Plenty of time remained for a Fulham revival but it never really happened. Sender Berge should have scored after a lapse by Martinez and substitutes Samuel Chukwueze and Emile Smith had their chances. Kevin replaced King on the hour but made little impact.
The curse lives on.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
