Aston Villa gets the job done in 1-0 win over Fulham | OneFootball

It wasn't pretty. There were a lot of nerves, and arguments could have been made both ways in terms of what the final score ended up being. Aston Villa earned the three points through their 1-0 victory over Fulham at Villa Park. How those points came today perhaps won't ultimately matter.

Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, after AVFC's Saturday fixture, are level on points. This is why Unai Emery will obviously take the result. There were a couple of concerns as his side hung on to win against Fulham at VP.

The main point of worry is that Villa needed to hang on. Yes, Donyell Malen came on and hit one off the crossbar, and Ollie Watkins had two fantastic chances to put one away. For the most part, Fulham played the Villans to a draw during the second half, at times looking like the slightly more dangerous side, despite being reduced to 10 men due to injury and having utilized all of their substitutions.

It was the Belgian midfielder, Youri Tielemans, who gave Villa the needed spark in the first half and nearly did so again, giving the hosts the needed victory. Overall, however, it was more of a struggle than what AVFC supporters would have liked.

Jacob Ramsey had a couple of good moments after coming on in the buildup. In particular, the substitute worked a ball to Ian Maatsen off a Tielemans corner that ended up drifting far off the goal. Morgan Rogers too had some positives on the pitch. For the most part, however, the attack lacked the needed burst and clinicalness during the open run of play.

Injury scare avoid for Aston Villa RB

Before coming off, John McGinn had an excellent shift as captain. Working hard, he drew a lot of fouls and did well to prevent Fulham from being able to gain too much momentum going forward. Matty Cash had something of a scare when replay showed that he had been kicked in the shin. Luckily for the right back, he was able to get up after understandably staying down for a bit.

All in all, the result was a fantastic one, but if anyone watched Emery's reactions on the sidelines, there are clear areas for the Villans to clean up before their next Premier League fixture.