Aston Villa 3-1 Fulham

Aston Villa recorded a 13^th consecutive Premier League home win as they brushed Fulham aside at Villa Park.

Youri Tielemans, playing in an advanced role on the left, saw his cross turned in by Antonee Robinson to give the hosts the lead after 27 minutes.

Unai Emery’s side kept the pressure on during a strong first half display and were rewarded with a second goal when John McGinn buried a shot from just outside the box.

Substitute Leon Bailey created Villa’s third of the game after 64 minutes, laying the ball across for Ollie Watkins to finish.

Raúl Jiménez, who’d earlier been denied by a super fingertip save from Emi Martínez, pulled one back with 20 minutes to play, but Villa saw the game out to equal a run of 13 straight home league wins, a feat last managed in 1983.

Ahead of kick-off, the club marked Remembrance Sunday with a minute’s silence and playing of the Last Post, while also coming together to celebrate Martinez’s recent Yachin Trophy win as the goalkeeper paraded his award on the pitch.

Once the action got underway, Villa quickly set about trying to add to their superb home record, calling Bernd Leno into an excellent point blank save via Moussa Diaby’s drive.

And moments later the hosts had a penalty when Ollie Watkins’ shot struck the outstretched arm of Timothy Castagne. However, VAR intervened and after studying the pitchside monitor, referee Simon Hooper changed his original decision as the ball hit his body first.

Tielemans, making his first league start for the club, helped bring about the opening goal after 27 minutes.

The Belgian was found in the left-hand channel and his first-time cross evaded Diaby and Leno before ricocheting off Robinson and into the net.

Fulham offered little attacking threat to worry Villa, allowing the home side to push on and grab a second minutes before half-time.

McGinn picked up a loose ball outside the box and drove past Joāo Palhinha before unleashing a powerful shot that nestled in the bottom corner.

Having failed to seriously test Villa’s No.1 in the first 45 minutes, Fulham brought the best out of the World Cup winner shortly after the restart when he tipped Jiménez’s drive onto the post.

The visitors were enjoying their best spell of the game as the hosts struggled to get going, and they fired another warning shot when Willian’s effort hit the sidenetting.

But the flow of Fulham pressure was quickly ended by Villa’s third of the afternoon on 64 minutes, a lightning quick counter-attack that saw substitute Bailey lay the ball across for Watkins to tap home.  

Jiménez had been working tirelessly up front for the west Londoners and he got his reward in the 70^th minute when he finished off a cross from Robinson to pull a goal back.

The excellent McGinn continued to cause havoc for Fulham when he outmuscled Calvin Bassey by the corner flag and headed down the byline before seeing his cross strike a defender and loop up onto the crossbar.

Watkins was waiting to meet the rebound but misjudged his header from two yards out, with Bailey rescuing the ball and sending a shot against the outside of the post.