Fulham vs Aston Villa; Premier League
Fulham vs Aston Villa. Premier League.
Craven CottageAttendance27,606.
Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa: Ryan Sessegnon scores Cottagers' first goal in three games to raise European hopes
Report and free match highlights as Ryan Sessegnon scores only goal to give Fulham first win, and goal, in three games to beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Craven Cottage; Timothy Castagne sees second ruled out for foul before Tammy Abraham misses sitter late on
Saturday 25 April 2026 15:26, UK
Fulham ground out a first win - and goal - in three games to move level with the final European spot in the early weekend standings with a narrow 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.
Homegrown hero Ryan Sessegnon's composed finish after Sasa Lukic's header was palmed into his path settled a tie of few clear-cut chances at Craven Cottage.
"Four more games left and hopefully we can achieve it," the matchwinner told TNT Sports after the game. "Three more points closer to our target. We have to keep going - it's not over yet."
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It was Villa who had arrived in west London hoping to further cement their Champions League qualification hopes and leapfrog Man Utd into third - but they lacked any kind of cutting edge and instead could be overtaken by fifth-place Liverpool later on Saturday.
Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers both put first-half efforts narrowly wide, but not until Tammy Abraham's glaring 84th-minute miss did they fashion another chance of real quality, despite controlling possession throughout the second period.
The visitors had been happy to cede possession and territory to Fulham at first and frustrated their hosts well, but lacked the bite or fluidity to hurt them on the break until Rogers and Watkins' efforts suggested things may be beginning to click.
Instead, Fulham finally found their own finishing boots to score for the first time since March 21 after Castagne was allowed to stride forward and cross from the right flank, with Jimenez's diving header saved by Emiliano Martinez and Sessegnon alive to guide home the rebound.
Villa emerged a different side, playing 10 yards further up the pitch but still without the clinical touch required, and were almost punished again when Timothy Castagne nodded home Sasa Lukic's corner, only for Sander Berge to be penalised for a foul on Martinez.
It left the door open for Villa to rescue a deserved point and they should have levelled when substitute Abraham, the hero a week earlier against Sunderland, danced beyond Andersen before shanking an effort over with the goal at his mercy - to leave Fulham dreaming of a repeat of their run to the Europa League final 16 years ago.
Silva: We knew this was a must-win game
Fulham boss Marco Silva to TNT Sports:
A great win for us. A massive three points. We knew before the match it was like a must-win game for us if you want to keep competing for something special until the end of the season and keep us around the places for European competition.
"To keep them with zero goals in a game, with the capacity they have, I'm very pleased. We kept them very quiet."
Emery: We needed to be more clinical
Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery to TNT Sports:
"We have lost a really good opportunity, the players did everything we were planning but we needed to be more clinical.
"The match was pretty even - sometimes for us sometimes for them. We created a few chances to score, it was very difficult. They have good players and coach and to beat teams like Fulham is for us something we must work on because that can happen."
