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Big news from the National League. Rochdale v York City – the battle of the giants – has ended in a draw, which means that York will go up to League Two. More here from Barry Glendenning.
That was Villa’s tenth defeat in the league. It’s been one of the oddities of this season that only four teams have been hard to beat. Two of them we might have expected – Arsenal and Man City with five defeats apiece. The other two, not so much: Man United and Bournemouth, both on seven.
A twist in the tale of this season’s Women’s Super League. Man City, as Emillia Hawkins reports, have lost at Brighton.
The Player of the Match, Joachim Andersen, is talking to TNT. “Our plan worked to perfection,” he says. “We are in a good place now.”
Villa were only at their fluent best for the odd minute here and there. They stay fourth with 58 points from 34 games. They’ll only overtake Man United if Brentford score nine at Old Trafford on Monday night, and they will slip below Liverpool at teatime unless Palace can get a point at Anfield. But Villa still have an eight-point cushion separating them from Brighton, who are sixth.
ShareFULL TIME! Fulham 1-0 Villa (Sessegnon 43)
And that’s it! A big win for Fulham, fully deserved as they worked their socks off, got six shots on target and scored a stylish goal.
Fulham’s Calvin Bassey (right), Antonee Robinson (left), Joachim Andersen (second left) and Sander Berge celebrate after the final whistle. Photograph: Jaimi Joy/ReutersShare
Updated at 09.28 EDT
90+4 min Wilson threatens to break down the right, Digne goes into the book and another minute goes by.
90+2 min It’s the Bon Jovi moment in added time: half way there. Villa have the ball, but they can’t find the six-yard box, let alone the net.
Updated at 09.20 EDT
90+1 min Only four minutes of added time for Villa to salvage this. Wilson gets a booking for something.
89 min The Player of the Match, picked by Lucy Ward, is Joachim Andersen. Interesting choice – he’s been good at the day job but when he went up for a corner, he got a Fulham goal disqualified by being too blatant with his attempt to block Martinez.
88 min Leno sends a goal kick long into a clear blue sky. It yields two or three half-chances as Bobb, again, fails to make full use of a fine position.
85 min Another wild shot from Villa – Digne this time, outside the box. The shot count has been even, 11-10 to Fulham, but Villa have landed only one of theirs on target, to Fulham’s five. Now Bobb bustles into the box and makes it six, though he can’t muster any power.
82 min Chance to Villa! Three neat passes through the middle and Abraham, making space beautifully, just lifts his shot too high.
Aston Villa’s Tammy Abraham rues a missed chance. Photograph: Ben Whitley/PAShare
Updated at 09.15 EDT
82 min Another sub for either side: Robinson for Sessegnon, who may have bagged the winner, and Abraham for Watkins, who may have ended up not quite impressing Thomas Tuchel.
80 min Villa go smoothly from one end to the other. Douglas Luiz plays a perpendicular ball to Rogers, who finds Sancho on the left. He cuts in and tees up Luiz, who is just too slow making up his mind whether to shoot.
78 min One of the few midfielders who haven’t just come on, Lukic, wins the ball well in the centre circle. Sessegnon, sent away down the left, skews his shot into the crowd.
76 min Silva follows suit, in a smaller way – sending on Bobb and King for Smith Rowe and Chukwueze, who may be in with a shout for Player of the Match.
75 min Here come the cavalry. Emery sends on two midfielders (Douglas Luiz and Barkley) and two wingers (Sancho and Bailey). McGinn, Tielemans, Bogarde and Buendia make way. So Watkins and Rogers stay on and Abraham has to bide his time.
72 min Wasted opportunity for Fulham! Chukwueze nicks the ball 30 yards out and opts to play in Muniz, who can’t sort his feet out.
70 min It’s a surprise to find the team who only play at weekends making a sub before the team that will spend their next two Thursdays playing a European semi-final. What has Emery got up his sleeve? There’s talk of a job lot, and I can see Douglas Luiz raring to go.
66 min The first substitution comes from Marco Silva: it’s Muniz for Jimenez at the tip of the arrow.
66 min If Fulham can hang onto their slender lead, they will be up to tenth, joining Chelsea and Brentford in a west-London huddle on 48 points. Villa will stay fourth unless Liverpool beat Palace, in which case Villa will slip to fifth on goal difference.
ShareDisallowed goal!
Fulham think they’ve gone 2-0 up as Castagne heads in from a corner, but the whistle goes right away because Andersen is giving Martinez a hug. The VAR instantly agrees with Michael Oliver, so there’s no drama.
62 min Better from Fulham as Smith Rowe advances into the box, but his shot is a feeble thing.
60 min As the hour glass flips over, Villa are having their best spell since that pair of chances in the first half.
59 min Chance! For Watkins, who races onto a through ball, only to sky it.
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins can’t find the target with his shot. Photograph: Jaimi Joy/ReutersShare
Updated at 08.58 EDT
56 min Chukwueze, who’s been bright, almost plays a great ball through to Wilson, but Martinez is wise to it.
54 min Villa piece together their first good move of the half and third of the match. McGinn sends a fine ball over to the left, but Rogers can’t deliver the cross.
51 min Bassey hits a long ball straight out of play. The Villa fans muster some jeers, but the Fulham fans won’t mind that.
50 min The second yellow card of the day goes to Pau Torres, for getting too close to Jimenez. The free kick is easily seen off.
49 min As it stands, Fulham are level on points with Chelsea. These two neighbours have taken very different routes to the same place.
48 min Chance for Wilson! With three defenders on him, he could square to Jimenez but prefers to hit a shot, which is scuffed past the post.
46 min Villa kick off and go all the way back to Martinez. There’s a scrap in the middle of the park and Castagne brings down Buendia, earning a yellow card in the process.
Time to open the post. “Tommy Too Cool is in the stands watching on in some fancy looking sunglasses,” says Justin Kavanagh. “Either his future’s so bright he has to wear shades, or else he’s practicing for a life of forced anonymity after this summer’s World Cup.”
“Hi Tim,” says Paul in Brazil, picking up on my aside about blocking. “You sound like you could be the man for this book, could also be an audio sleep aid.” Nice backhand! “Wondering what new rules FIFA/Fafa will have in the World Cup. Just to make it more exciting…”
ShareHALF-TIME! Fulham 1-0 Villa
Craven Cottage erupted when the goal went in, and although Villa look ready to bounce back, there’s only a minute of added time. So Fulham lead at the break, and it’s not often you can say that. They deserve it, for their enterprise, pressing and new-found accuracy: they’ve had five shots on target to Villa’s one. Villa were only really themselves for three minutes, when Rogers and Watkins both came close. But they’re good at scoring late on and Unai Emery will be telling them can still win this.
Updated at 08.29 EDT
44 min It was a fine, flowing move that was all about the full-backs. Castagne advanced into the inside-right zone, ignored the man outside him and sent in an excellent cross. The header from Lukic was sharp enough for Martinez to parry rather than gather it in. The ball fell kindly to Sessegnon, near the penalty spot, and he drove it into the corner.
Ryan Sessegnon (second left) fires home to put Fulham ahead. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 08.23 EDT
GOAL! Fulham 1-0 Villa (Sessegnon 42)
They’ve done it! They’ve scored in the first half!
Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon celebrates after opening the scoring. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 08.21 EDT
41 min Fulham shine on both wings in the same move. Jimenez races down the right and hooks a cross over his shoulder. There’s nobody in the box, so it reaches Smith Rowe on the left. He sends a lovely little through ball to someone whose cross is, guess what, blocked.
39 min Wilson’s free kick is blocked, but Fulham come again and Sessegnon, in behind, volleys a cross … that can’t quite reach Jimenez.
37 min Fulham, fired up, storm into the D, where Wilson is fouled. McGinn, willing as ever, plays the draft excluder – that’s proper captaincy.