{"id":820247,"date":"2026-11-01T00:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T00:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820247\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T00:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T00:18:09","slug":"zion-suzuki-horror-own-goal-haunts-aston-villa-to-hand-fulham-a-point-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820247\/","title":{"rendered":"Zion Suzuki horror own goal haunts Aston Villa to hand Fulham a point | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fulham helped cement Jamie Carragher\u2019s argument that Aston Villa<\/a> will never be Manchester United. No, they know how to grind out a point on a bad day and can go to Barcelona on Tuesday with some confidence.<\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s goalkeeper Zion Suzuki dropped Alex Iwobi\u2019s corner over his own goalline to deny Unai Emery\u2019s team a fifth win in six games after Nicolas Jackson\u2019s eighth goal of the season had promised to lift a resurgent Villa back into the top third of the Premier League<\/a>. Not even John McGinn\u2019s missed penalty had looked set to deny them as they took control in the first period.<\/p>\n

But while Villa were made to look below par by a Fulham<\/a> side making it seven points from the last nine, the home supporters sang long and loud to make their manager know how much he is appreciated.<\/p>\n

The Holte End had not waited long to voice their verdict on the spat between the former England international<\/a> and the Villa chair.<\/p>\n

Carragher had admitted that his words were \u201cclumsy and wrong\u201d after telling Villa fans \u201cto shut the fuck up\u201d as they reacted angrily to his claims that Emery should want to manage Manchester United if Michael Carrick were to be sacked after their long winless run. It seemed like a storm in a teacup to many until Nassef Sawiris issued a statement promising to initiate legal action. \u201cAs custodians of this great club, we cannot stand still while the F word is directed at Villa fans,\u201d Sawiris said.<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding this disappointing draw, it is beyond question that Emery has done an admirable job at Villa. Even after losing another tranche of top talent, with Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and Emi Mart\u00ednez heading up the exits last summer after winning the Europa League<\/a>, the former Arsenal and PSG manager has resurrected the club\u2019s fortunes yet again. They start seasons slowly \u2013 winning only two of their last 12 league games in August and September \u2013 but once he has cast his spell and integrated the new signings, Villa tend to get going; they had won eight of their previous 10 league games in October and November.<\/p>\n

Zion Suzuki fumbles the ball into the net to gift Fulham their goal. Photograph: Manjit Narotra\/ProSports\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

It must be galling to qualify for the Champions League twice in three years and yet still have your best talents lured away. So the idea that United could, in Carragher\u2019s eyes, come and click their fingers and expect Emery to be unable to resist their faded grandeur evidently stuck in the throats of Villa fans and chair alike.<\/p>\n

Fulham\u2019s second-half showing, in particular, merited a draw that followed their recent league wins over Hull and Coventry and kept them two points above the relegation zone in \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa\u2019s first autumn in charge. Emery would never countenance it but perhaps Villa\u2019s ultimate glamour trip, to Barcelona, on Tuesday before next Sunday\u2019s visit to Old Trafford, of all places, overshadowed this game.<\/p>\n

McGinn spurned his first penalty for the club (excluding shootouts), awarded after Sander Berge was belatedly adjudged to have handled Leon Goretzka\u2019s header, when he thundered his spot-kick against the crossbar.<\/p>\n

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Nicolas Jackson opens the scoring for Aston Villa in the first half. Photograph: Joe Giddens\/PA<\/p>\n

But while Fulham had plenty of the ball, Villa appeared content to threaten on the counterattack. Indeed, they took the lead in the 39th minute after Jackson was sent running down the inside-left channel by a perfect through ball from Johan Manzambi. The \u00a365m striker weaved into the penalty area past Timothy Castagne and David Affengruber before slotting in his fifth goal in five Premier League games.<\/p>\n

Fulham were much more dominant in the second half. \u201cThey were more aggressive than us in the first half,\u201d Arbeloa admitted. \u201cI told my players I know we are a team that wants to control the game through the ball. But this is the Premier League. If you want to win a game, you need to fight for every ball.\u201d When Castagne headed on Alex Iwobi\u2019s corner, both Gonzalo Garc\u00eda and Shea Charles got a touch on the ball before it spooned up on to the roof of the net. Villa were riding their luck.<\/p>\n

Fulham\u2019s dominance paid off, however, in the most unexpected fashion midway through the second half. Suzuki, who has been lauded for his early-season form, had just saved a header from Iwobi when, from the Nigerian\u2019s ensuing corner, under no pressure, he inexplicably dropped the ball just over the line. \u201cIt\u2019s part of football,\u201d Emery said. \u201cI make mistakes as coach. The players are making every match mistakes \u2026 when it\u2019s the keeper, those mistakes are more in focus. I prefer to speak about the saves he did today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fulham helped cement Jamie Carragher\u2019s argument that Aston Villa will never be Manchester United. No, they know how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-820247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gb","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}