Future looks bleak for Fulham as Villa bag three

Aston Villa made it two wins from two with a convincing 3-0 spanking of Fulham at Craven Cottage that will certainly give Scott Parker sleepless nights as the home side looked worryingly out of their depth.

It was two of last season’s key men that got things started early, with John McGinn dinking a beautiful pass over the entire Fulham defence for Jack Grealish to play past an out-rushing Alphonse Areola.

And 10 minutes later, another of last season’s highlights, Conor Hourihane, decided to get involved, with Grealish dancing into the box before playing the ball to McGinn, whose delightful delicate first-time lay-off was guided home by Hourihane for an early 2-0 lead.

Fulham stopped things getting worse before the break, but Villa made sure 2-0 wasn’t a dangerous lead, with Tyrone Mings diverting in Hourihane’s pinpoint free-kick with just 190 minutes of the second period played.

Alexsandar Mitrovic was denied by VAR when he thought he’d pulled one back, before a combination Emiliano Martinez and the crossbar kept out a smart shot from Joe Bryan, but neither effort looked like they could have done much to stop a huge win for Dean Smith’s Villa, and panic-inducing loss for Parker’s Fulham.

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