Aston Villa is not letting up in the fight for a Champions League spot. At the start of Premier League Saturday, Unai Emery’s team redeemed itself after two bitter defeats.
Youri Tielemans kept Aston Villa in the race for the Champions League spots on Saturday. The midfielder headed home the 1-0 winner in the lunchtime game against Fulham FC in the 12th minute after a corner from captain John McGinn.
Villa thus successfully shook off their last two performances, which had caused plenty of frustration: First, coach Unai Emery’s team lost 2-1 to Manchester City in stoppage time in the league, then suffered a nasty 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
But Fulham came along at just the right time on Saturday. Emery has the best record as coach against the Cottagers, who are eighth in the table and also still in contention for European places, and now added a seventh win in seven games. At least on this day, it didn’t matter that his team missed several good chances to decide the game earlier. Striker Ollie Watkins also had another unlucky outing, missing the ball from a free position immediately after the restart, among other things. In the final analysis, however, goal difference could still prove decisive.
Fulham down to ten men at the end
While Fulham, who had to play with ten men in the final stages after Harrison Reed’s injury, had to let their lead slip, Villa are now level on points with sixth-placed Nottingham (away to Palace on Monday) and fifth-placed Chelsea (at home to Liverpool on Sunday). Due to the strong European performances of the English teams, the top five teams will qualify for the Champions League. Manchester United or Tottenham could also qualify as Europa League winners.
“We’ve had a taste of it this season and we want to do it again,” said match winner Tielemans about this year’s quarter-finalists’ dreams of European glory.
