London, April 26 (BNA): Defender Tyrone Mings scored a wonderful header from a set-piece to lead Aston Villa to a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Villa Park today, Tuesday, to raise it to fifth place in the English Premier League table, in a step closer to guaranteeing Europe. football next season.
Villa have 54 points from 33 games, one ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and five points behind fourth-placed Manchester United. Fulham, whose European dreams were derailed by four defeats in March and April, are ninth with 45 points.
Reuters reported that Fulham were hit hard when midfielder Willian was injured in the warm-up and unable to play, and was replaced by Manor Solomon.
The visitors could have had an early chance but the hosts put them under tremendous pressure in the opening 15 minutes, well crying out for a penalty being denied when Ollie Watkins appeared to be tripped in the box by Tosin Adarabioyo.
Fulham were forced into another substitution when Harry Wilson came off after 17 minutes to make way for Bobby DiCordova-Reid as things went from bad to worse.
Villa took the lead in the 21st minute when Mings met John McGinn’s corner at the near post with a superb header that went across and into the net for his first goal of the season.
Fulham found their feet in the second half but their attack failed again and although they enjoyed more possession they did little to threaten Emiliano Martinez past Villa.
Mings’ joy almost turned to misery in the 82nd minute when he put the ball into his own net, but Harrison Reid was found offside in the build-up and his own goal was fouled as Villa held on for the win.
The hosts have had an impressive run since Unai Emery took over in November and Tuesday’s victory marked their fifth successive home win without conceding a goal as the pressure remains on Europe.
Top scorer Mings told BT Sport: “We’ll look and see where we are. We did that all season, when we were bottom as well. It’s good to look at it now when we’re a little bit higher.” It’s time to record it on the score sheet.
“The manager was telling me if I didn’t score he’d drop me so I was happy because I got a goal tonight,” he said.
WWA