While it wasn’t particularly convincing, Aston Villa secured a 1-0 win over Fulham in a big boost for our hopes of European qualification.
Villa were in full control in the first half as Tyrone Mings’ header from a John McGinn corner broke the deadlock and gave us an important lead, with the visitors happy to sit back and defend in numbers.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Fulham: Mings secures win in solid defensive display
That in turn allowed us to dictate the tempo and nullify their threat, and although it was flat at times, it was a professional and workmanlike performance that ultimately got the job done with another clean sheet and win.
With that result, we temporarily at least move into fifth place in the Premier League table, and while we wait to see how the teams around us fare now with their games in hand, all we can do is continue to win and maintain our current form, which in turn will put us in the best possible position we can be in come the end of the campaign.
Defensive discipline continues to set standard
That’s now five consecutive clean sheets at home, while we’ve only conceded three goals in our last 10 league outings. That defensive solidity and consistency that has been established has been the foundation of our real success under Emery.
He made no secret of his displeasure with how we played in the back-to-back 4-2 home defeats to Leicester City and Arsenal, and it’s one thing identifying the issues and another entirely to correct them.
Villa have shown impressive discipline and resilience defensively since then, and that’s from Ollie Watkins to Emi Martinez, with the entire team working tirelessly to make us much harder to beat.
Mings shows offensive threat, more needed
Mings joked in his post-match interview that Emery had threatened to drop him if he didn’t start scoring goals, but it’s a valid point that he has to be a bigger offensive threat on set-pieces.
While Villa have been brilliant in scoring in every league game under Emery thus far, with that run now stretching to 20 games, it’s important we continue to get goals from right across the side.
Whether it’s Mings or Ezri Konsa, if the deliveries are on point, we need our centre-halves getting on the end of more and making us more dangerous in that area.
Tiredness becoming a factor…
Emery conceded after the game that Villa were perhaps slightly tired in the second half after our efforts at Brentford last weekend, and so that is something he’ll have to manage through the week to ensure we’re in the best possible condition for Sunday.
With that in mind, our performance begins to make a little more sense as we were controlled throughout as we looked to manage the game and arguably didn’t want to overly exert ourselves if we could keep Fulham at arm’s length.
As a result, while we ticked the most important box in getting three points, we were also hopefully able to reserve some energy heading into a decisive five-game run to end the season.
Emi Martinez boost crucial
There was concern prior to the game that Emiliano Martinez might miss out having been forced to come off at half-time against Brentford last Saturday with a stomach bug.
Fortunately, he was passed fit and started as we named an unchanged XI for the third consecutive game, and despite Fulham not posing much of a threat, it was evident how much more composed and solid we are with the Argentine World Cup winner marshalling the backline.
While we didn’t get to see much of his shot-stopping, his organisation, leadership, distribution and importantly the calmness he brings to the defence by commanding his box and knowing when to come out makes a huge difference.
Focus remains on ourselves and next match
With so many teams around us having games in hand – Brighton staggeringly have played four less games than us at this point – the standings can change significantly in the coming weeks and it will be out of our control.
All Villa can do is continue to win games and that means simply focusing on our next match and trying to get another positive result to keep our superb run of form going for as long as possible.
Emery told reporters in his press conference after the Fulham game that his preparation for Man Utd on Sunday would begin after he left the media room, and for now, that’s all either he or the squad will be thinking about as we go in search of another important win.
