YOURI TIELEMANS’ bullet header was just enough to see off a Fulham side who fired blanks – as Aston Villa made it 17 home games without defeat.
That equalled a club record set by Unai Emery’s team between March and December 2023 and kept them on course for a potential Champions League berth.
It also maintained the Spaniard’s remarkable record against the Cottagers, who he has now beaten in all seven encounters against them – the best record of his managerial career against any club.
This won’t go down as one of his better performances but at this stage of the season that doesn’t matter.
Villa’s players had suffered two absolute sledgehammer blows ahead of this crucial game.
Losing to a stoppage time goal at Manchester City was painful enough.
But being spanked 3-0 by Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley really piled on the agony for Unai Emery’s men.
However this was no time to feel sorry for themselves, with the Premier League’s finishing tape in sight.
In his programme notes Emery stressed the importance of putting the past behind them.
“During the week, we kicked out from our mind any distraction, regret or fear,” he wrote.
“No past and no future, football only knows about the present.
“Do we want Villa in the top level of football again? YES.
“Are we aware of how important the Fulham match is? YES.” Fortunately for him Tielemans got the memo!
The little Belgian has been the beating heart of this Villa side all season.
Incredibly this was the 27-year-old’s 52nd consecutive start of the season.
That made him the first player to clock up that many starts for the club since Earl Barrett and Kevin Richardson way back in 1994!
And he celebrated the milestone with the goal which turned out to be the winner, after 12 minutes.
Fulham will be kicking themselves at the ease with which the Belgian scored.
John McGinn flighted in a corner from the right and Tielemans timed his run to perfection to burst between Kenny Tete and Harry Wilson and head beyond Bernd Leno.
Although the German goalie managed to get a glove on the ball there was no chance of him keeping that particular bullet out.
It was the midfielder’s fifth goal of the season – and Villa’s 15th set-piece goal – and Tielemans went on to produce a man of the match performance.
It’s still hard to believe Emery snapped him up on a free from Leicester City two seasons ago.
He was at the heart of everything that was good about Villa as he ran the show with his accurate passing.
In an often frantic game, he seemed to play the game at his own pace, as he covered every blade of grass on Villa Park.
In truth this was a slow burner however as both forward lines failed to find the spark needed to ignite the contest.
Ollie Watkins was trying desperately to break Gabby Agbonlahor’s 74-goal haul to become Villa’s top Premier goalscorer of all time.
But he headed wide following a short corner in seven minutes as Marco Asensio’s cross was just a centimetre or two too high for him.
And that set the tone for another frustrating afternoon for the England striker who has now gone three games without a goal.
In fact the only real other moment of note during a dreadful first half came from Tielemans again.
He looked set to score a screamer of a second until Bernd Leno got his fingertips to prevent his 25 yarder finding the top bin!
However none of the dozy officials spotted his brilliant save, which brought a wry smile to Leno’s face.
And a dreary half ended when Martinez plucked an Alex Iwobi effort out from under his crossbar, with impressive ease.
Fortunately things livened up after the break.
Watkins just failed to get on the end of a teasing Cash cross before Fulham thought they had equalised.
Ryan Sessegnon tried to tame Antonee Robinson’s lay-off by taking the ball down on his chest.
But the ball brushed his hand before he lashed a screamer beyond Martinez and into the far corner.
Referee Rob Jones spotted the handball and VAR agreed with the official that any handball in the run-up to a goal is a no, no as Fulham cursed their luck.
Meanwhile, Emery cursed Ezri Konsa for losing the ball in midfield, leading to another Fulham chance which Harry Wilson just failed to take.
The Spaniard was a flurry of arms as he vented his anger several times at Konsa who tried to argue back – which didn’t help the situation!
Leno then denied Watkins, using his foot to divert the striker‘s shot before Pau Torres missed a snip at the far post.
Nerves frayed as the clock ticked down and Cash bravely blocked Joachim Andersen at the back post as Fulham pushed for an equaliser.
Adama Traore then slashed a volley wide before Villa sub Donyell Malen almost killed off the Cottagers.
He sprinted through onto Jacob Ramsey’s pass but smashed the ball off the underside of Leno crossbar.
However Villa were relieved to leave with three hard-earned points, with on-loan forward Marcus Rashford set to miss the rest of the season through hamstring injury.
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