Fulham v Aston Villa: Silva’s Cottagers are no pushovers on home turf
Fulham will be no pushovers for Unai Emery’s Villa side this weekend.
Villa head to Craven Cottage on Saturday to take on Marco Silva’s men, who have not been beaten on home turf yet this campaign in either league or cup.
They have taken three points against Leicester and Newcastle, while managing a 1-1 draw at home to West Ham.
In their last outing before the international break, they ran current reigning Premier League champions Manchester City incredibly close at the Etihad, eventually ending up losing 3-2.
Former Wolves winger and speed merchant Adama Traore caused Pep Guardiola’s side an awful lot of problems that day.
Like many other clubs, they are dealing with players returning late from overseas.
Antonee Robinson and Raul Jimenez both played against each other on Wednesday night as the USA travelled away to play Mexico.
The game ended up finishing 2-0 to the home side with Jimenez scoring his nation’s first goal.
If Fulham were to beat Villa by more than a goal then they would leapfrog them in the Premier League table.
In part, it is a new-look Fulham side after Emile Smith Rowe joined in the summer for a club-record £27 million – that figure could rise to £34 million. He has started well, scoring twice in his first six starts.
Silva was busy in the transfer market as they also signed Reiss Nelson on loan from Arsenal, while Joachim Andersen re-joined the club from Crystal Palace.
Villa did the double over Fulham last season, beating them 3-1 at Villa Park in November 2023 before getting a 2-1 victory at Craven Cottage earlier this year.
