Villa will be looking to bounce back from the defeat to Manchester United last time out, whilst our hosts Fulham are aiming to build on their win over Bournemouth. Emery is now facing up to a growing injury crisis, with the club now battling the fact that a number of key players are long-term absentees. The latest is of course French international Kamara, who is has been confirmed will miss the rest of the campaign and Diego Carlos missing with a hamstring complaint.
A mix of the impact of injuries, indifferent form and opposition adapting to our style of play has seen Villa’s league form stall. Whilst any suggestion in the early part of the season around being outsiders for the title were premature, attention realistically switches to keeping the type of momentum that might secure Champions League football next season. It’s a genuine opportunity that we should go all out for, but we now sit 5th going into this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures.
Villa simply need to get back to regular winning ways if the ambition of top-level European football is to be achieved. The solitary win in 2024 over a dreadful Sheffield United points to the risk of a promising season stagnating. However, despite our hosts Fulham having improved of late, they too only have a single league win under their belt this year. They are unbeaten in three, whilst Villa haven’t lost the last 4 away from B6.
This isn’t the time to look at the form book perhaps, with Fulham having won six of the last seven encounters at Craven Cottage. Still, Villa have taken all three points in four of the last five PL meetings. The last defeat saw off Steven Gerrard, let’s hope for a far better outcome this afternoon.
VILLA TEAM NEWS
Martinez
Cash, Lenglet, Pau, Moreno.
McGinn (Captain), Tielemans, Luiz, Ramsey, Bailey.
Watkins
Subs:
Gauci, Olsen, Digne, Chambers, Diaby, Rogers, Kesler-Hayden, Iroegbunam.
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