Aston Villa vs Fulham preview: Team news, line-ups, prediction
Aston Villa are out to capitalise on the momentum from their Europa League win over Bologna when Fulham travel to Villa Park this weekend.
John McGinn scored as Villa beat Bologna 1-0 in the opening fixture of their Europa League campaign.
The victory was Unai Emery‘s first of the season after a difficult start to the domestic campaign, which has seen Emery call out his own players.
The Villans are 18th in the Premier League and the terrible opening gameweeks have also seen Monchi leave his role at Villa Park as Aston Villa try to steer the ship back in the right direction.
Eighth-placed Fulham will be feeling confident, three wins on the bounce in all competitions have allowed them to quickly move on from a winless August.
Premier League Form Guide
Aston Villa: DLLDD
Fulham: DDLWW
Team news
The Villans’ midfield has suffered the most this season, with Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana currently sidelined.
Tielemans was forced off against Everton with a calf injury, while Onana is still struggling with a hamstring issue he picked up in August.
In midweek, Emery made the bold decision to switch out Ollie Watkins in favour of Donyell Malen.
Watkins was brought on, but his struggles in front of goal continued with a tame penalty effort saved.
Morgan Rogers had a poor performance for Villa and may benefit from some time on the bench as he continues to perform far below what earned him the PFA Young Player of the Year award last season.
Emi Martinez was not in the matchday squad; his absence was put down to injury.
Fulham had their own midweek action as they navigated past Cambridge United in the Carabao Cup, fielding a somewhat rotated side but a strong lineup nonetheless.
Emile Smith-Rowe, Raul Jiminez, and exciting Brazilian winger Kevin played over 80 minutes.
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Predicted lineup
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen, Kamara, McGinn, Elliot, Malen, Sancho, Watkins
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Anderson, Bassey, Robinson, Lukic, Berge, Iwobi, Wilson, King, Muniz
Score prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Fulham
Villa Park has finally enjoyed a victory this season, and as much as the crowd will do all they can to get the team over the line once more, Fulham could prove too tough an opposition.
Matty Cash and John McGinn have scored Villa’s only two goals this season, so a high-scoring affair doesn’t seem likely.
In this fixture last season, Emery got the better of Marco Silva in a 1-0 win, and in the reverse game, the neutral got a real show with a 3-1 Villa away win and two red cards.
However, this just isn’t the same tantalising team of last year, and points shared feels like a fair result and one both teams can be happy with.
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