Aston Villa continue their hunt for a first Premier League victory of the season against Fulham at Villa Park.
Victory will lift Villa out of the relegation zone and up to 16th in the table, whilst Fulham can climb into the top five with a win.
Team News
Emiliano Martinez is a doubt for Villa after he missed their Europa League win over Bologna with a muscle injury.
Ross Barkley (personal), Amadou Onana (hamstring) and Youri Tielemans (calf) remain sidelined.
Fulham could be without Kevin due to a shoulder injury suffered in their Carabao Cup victory over Cambridge United in midweek.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Fulham at Villa Park on Sunday 28 September at 2pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have won seven of their last eight meetings against Fulham (W7, L1).
- Fulham have lost their last six visits to Villa (L6).
- Villa have won two of their last three meetings at home to Fulham by 1-0 results.
- Unai Emery’s Villains are yet to score at home this season (D1, L1).
- Joachim Andersen has made more clearances than any other Fulham player in their first five league games of the season, having managed 39 clearances in five appearances.
Prediction
Having finally got that elusive first win of the campaign against Bologna, Villa now need to bring the positivity of that clinical result because they otherwise were pretty wasteful which was evident in their low confidence levels summed up by Ollie Watkins’ saved penalty.
Fulham meanwhile might fear this trip initially given their away form at Villa Park but off the back of three consecutive home wins in all competitions, they definitely shouldn’t hold any fears if play like in their last league outing against Brentford because they were ruthless after a slow start.
Nevertheless Villa won’t make this easy but given their confidence and lack of goals in contrast to Fulham, I can see Marco Silva’s Cottagers ending their away rut in this fixture.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-2 Fulham
Result: Aston Villa 3-1 Fulham