With just four Premier League games remaining this season, Aston Villa will likely have to win them all to have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League.
While both Manchester City and Newcastle Utd could potentially move out of reach, that leaves a more realistic battle for fifth place, with Villa trailing Chelsea and Nottingham Forest by three points.
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A lot can still happen between now and the end to he season as with our rivals playing each other along the way, they’ll take points off one another, and that will hopefully open the door for us to close the gap and leapfrog at least two of them.
For Unai Emery and the Villa players, the challenge is simple. Win all four remaining league games and take the maximum 12 points, and by doing our job, we can hope for luck to go our way elsewhere.
Off the back of damaging consecutive defeats though after our last-gasp heartbreak at Man City was followed by a bitterly disappointing effort in our FA Cup semi-final loss to Crystal Palace, the way in which we approach the Fulham game this weekend is going to be decisive.
If we’re lacking in confidence and allow hesitancy to creep into our game, we run the risk of falling deeper into a rut and allowing the pressure to get the better of us with our season slipping away, as an expectant home crowd will want to see a reaction after a frustrating and underwhelming trip to Wembley last time out.
There is simply no more room for error, and there is no time to conserve energy. Villa have to attack this fixture against Fulham with intensity and urgency, and that means making a fast start, and getting the crowd right behind the players to lift them.
We’ve seen Villa blow teams away in dominant spells during games, particularly at home, and we’ll need that again starting this weekend if we’re to have any chance of jumping into the Champions League qualification spots.
Many will agree that we fell well short of our standards and capabilities last time out, and that’s what made the result all the more frustrating as the players failed to produce their best performance on the pitch.
We can’t have that excuse or afford that reasoning on Saturday, as Fulham are a dangerous side and one that is more than capable of causing us problems as they look to close the gap on us in the standings.
Regardless of personnel, the approach and mindset in how to attack this game has to be right and we need to be positive and on the front-foot with a cutting edge to our play from the off. If influential figures like John McGinn can set the tone early, it will hopefully put us in a position to get the win, bounce back and set the foundation for a strong run to end the campaign.
