A second-half surge gave Aston Villa a huge 3-1 win over Fulham after going down just three minutes in.
The atmosphere at Villa Park was tense and nervous for the first 30 minutes. Down by one goal, the Villans conceded dangerous attack after dangerous attack and were also lucky not to have seen a penalty given against them after Josh King fired a shot that hit Matty Cash’s arm inside the box.
However, things changed massively after the initial half hour. Unai Emery’s men finally took control of the game and equalised through Ollie Watkins, who scored his first goal of the season.
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It was also Aston Villa’s first win of their Premier League campaign — and the second in a row across all competitions after starting the Europa League with three points against Bologna. Here’s how they did it.
In this article, we’ll cover:
Ease to split Fulham’s centre-backs
This was a common theme throughout the whole match. Unai Emery manipulated Marco Silva’s centre-back duo all game long to his benefit — and it paid off.
Aston Villa ‘rehearsed’ a few plays creating a large gap between Joachim Andersen and Calvin Bassey before actually scoring from it. And it came from different ways as well. Long passes by Lucas Digne and even Emiliano Martinez had the opposing central defenders running backwards for their lives.
Evann Guessand and Morgan Rogers were crucial. Emery noticed how far up Fulham’s full-backs would go to press Villa’s goal kicks and used his wide midfielders to occupy both Andersen and Bassey. This led to the distance between them growing farther and farther. Eventually, Ollie Watkins pounced to make it 1-1.
This also manifested in the third goal. Andersen and Bassey would jump forward to press and tackle far too often when the midfielders lost possession. What was already a fragile line of four quickly turned into a back-three when the Dane stepped up after the Cottagers lost the ball immediately after restarting the game.
Timothy Castagne then made things worse in an attempt to close down Digne before Andersen had gotten back to track Watkins. The Belgian didn’t block the pass and left a 3v3 inside the box. The ball then found its way to Emiliano Buendia who made it 3-1.
Super-sub Emiliano Buendia to the rescue
Speaking of Buendia, the Argentinian was responsible for two of Aston Villa’s three goals against Fulham. He set John McGinn up in the second and scored the third.
That was immediately after coming on at half-time as well. He became the first substitute to score and assist in a Premier League game this season.
He entered in Harvey Elliott’s place and performed a different role, staying wider than the 22-year-old Englishman. It’s odd considering that Buendia is the one more used to playing in central areas, with Elliott more of a wide attacking-midfielder.
Key stats:
- 1 goal (Ranked #1)
- 1 assist (Ranked #1)
- 2 shot attempts (Ranked #4)
Aston Villa’s direct approach works once again
Aston Villa’s only two wins of the season across all competitions have come in their fastest games in terms of transition.
Apart from the opening day draw against Newcastle (41%), the Villans had had more possession than their opponent in their last five matches before the Bologna win (62% average). Since then, 47% against the Italians and 48% against Fulham.
| Opponent | Possession (%) |
|---|---|
| Fulham | 48 |
| Bologna | 47 |
| Sunderland | 71 |
| Brentford | 53 |
| Everton | 51 |
| Crystal Palace | 59 |
| Brentford | 76 |
| Newcastle | 41 |
It may not sound like much, but it was less than 50% in two straight home games. In addition, even when the Villans did have possession, they played with a lot more pace than before.
Opta data shows Aston Villa had a direct speed average of 1.51 against the Cottagers and 1.47 against Bologna. Those are their two highest tallies this season across all competitions (1.21 average beforehand).
This could be the blueprint for how Villa get back on track and rediscover the form that led them to playing in the Champions League. It’s already paid dividends in the Premier League and the Europa League.
It was a good win for Unai Emery as well, who had been under – valid – criticism lately. He became only the second manager to defeat Fulham this season, after Chelsea. It was a strong response and he will hope to carry it on going forward.