Aston Villa battled back after falling behind early at Fulham to secure a 3-1 victory at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Raul Jimenez put the hosts in front in the 5th minute, but just four minutes later, Villa were back on level terms after Morgan Rogers saw his effort deflect into the back of the net.
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Emiliano Martinez then denied Andreas Pereira from the penalty spot before Ollie Watkins headed us into the lead on the hour mark, and an Issa Diop own goal then wrapped up the win as Villa moved up to fourth place in the Premier League table.
Focus now switches to Bologna in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but this was another impressive league outing on the road to continue our fine start to the campaign.
Mature Villa produce another comeback victory
While we seem to be developing an unwanted habit of falling behind in games, we continue to show maturity and consistency in how we approach setbacks and adversity.
The early goal, the pressure from Fulham and the penalty didn’t change our course, as we remained composed and focused on our gameplan and how Emery sets us up to hurt the opposition.
We’ll hopefully avoid conceding early and/or soft goals moving forward, but the patience, trust and belief in our way of playing continues to lay the foundation for our success.
Emiliano Martinez decisive once again
After reacting to conceding early, Villa then conceded a penalty as we risked losing our momentum and suffering another setback which could have shaped the rest of the game.
Fortunately, we have the best goalkeeper in the world between the posts as Martinez saved Pereira’s spot-kick and kept the game level at 1-1.
Emery singled out the Argentine shot-stopper for praise after the game, as that was ultimately a decisive moment in the encounter that paved the way for our win.
Onana, Tielemans partnership restored
After missing out prior to the international break due to injury, Amadou Onana returned to the Villa XI and his partnership with Youri Tielemans was restored in our midfield pivot.
That was a fundamental factor in our ability to gradually grab control of the contest, dictate tempo and possession, and play with our preferred rhythm and fluidity.
While Onana showed great agility and athleticism to break Fulham’s play up and regain possession, Tielemans pulled the strings alongside him to break the lines and set us off in attack.
Ramsey, Rogers driving force in Villa attack
Morgan Rogers was excellent again in finding pockets of space in the final third and breaking at the Fulham defence, while Jacob Ramsey’s positional awareness and tactical intelligence was key to breaking Fulham down.
There was a lot of excitement over the attacking duo working together in the Villa line-up, and we saw positive signs from them in this one as they were a driving force in our play.
While Leon Bailey is still struggling to find his best form on the right wing, we’ve got these two playing at a high level and making a decisive difference.
Bench strength a huge positive for Emery
Jaden Philogene, Ross Barkley, Jhon Duran, Emiliano Buendia and John McGinn were all introduced off the bench, while Ezri Konsa, Ian Maatsen and Boubacar Kamara were unused substitutes.
Coupled with the expectation that Tyrone Mings will return in the next week or so, what a time this is in terms of Villa’s strength in depth and competition.
On one hand, it’s huge in terms of being able to rotate without compromising our ability to compete at the top level, or having to significantly adjust our gameplan and way of playing. Further, it will continue to drive improvement and competitiveness within the group to ensure we continue to get better and raise our level as the season plays out.
