Ryan Sessegnon’s goal late in the first half fired Fulham to a vital victory over Aston Villa. The win kept alive their European hopes, putting them level on points with eighth-placed Chelsea for Conference League football.
Ryan Sessegnon’s strike late in the first half fired Fulham to a vital victory over Aston Villa to keep alive their European hopes.
Sessegnon’s goal, coming just days after signing a new contract to remain at the club for another season, came in the 42nd minute, with a composed finish after Sasa Lukic’s headed effort was initially saved by Emiliano Martinez.
It was the first time the Cottagers had scored in the opening 45 minutes since a 2-1 win over Tottenham on March 1 and put a much-needed end to their goal-scoring drought, which had seen them fail to score for two consecutive matches.
Timothy Castagne put the ball in the back of the net to put Fulham 2-0 up but the goal was disallowed for a foul from Sander Berge on Villa goalkeeper Martinez.
Fulham were far more on it from the get-go than in previous weeks, with those results clearly causing some issues to be addressed in training.
They seemed much more on the same wavelength and had an early opportunity through Raul Jimenez, who was chosen up front from the off in place of the out-of-sorts Rodrigo Muniz.
Fulham had significant chunks of possession in the opening half, with Villa looking to pounce on the counterattack, but initially both sides held each other out well.
Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins both had opportunities of note, with Watkins in particular showing his trademark ability to beat a man and get a shot away when not many could or would.
Thankfully for Fulham, both of those efforts sailed narrowly wide but there was growing concern Villa were starting to take control.
That concern was eased when Sessegnon ran onto the loose ball from Martinez’s save, after Timothy Castagne was afforded far too much space to glide into and put in an enticing cross into the box, which Lukic could only direct at the Argentinian goalkeeper.
Villa came out of the blocks flying in the second half and, on another day, may have taken the ascendancy, but there was a sense that they were not quite with it and that their threat was largely counteracted by a Fulham side who opted for a three-at-the-back formation.
Yet, it was the Cottagers who scored the next goal, with Castagne heading home from a Lukic corner, only for Berge to be adjudged to have fouled Martinez.
Tammy Abraham had one last decent chance in the 84th minute, which both Abraham and Emery will have nightmares about this evening.
In the end though, Fulham did enough to take a massive step forward in the battle to secure European football.