Fulham’s fury at Villa Park: early promise undone by a two-minute swing and fine margins

Fulham left Villa Park stewing over decisions and opportunities as an excellent start dissolved into a 3-1 defeat. Raúl Jiménez headed Marco Silva’s side into a third-minute lead from Sasa Lukic’s corner before injury curtailed his afternoon, and the visitors then saw two first-half penalty appeals rejected—Josh King booked for simulation after contact with Emi Martínez and a Matty Cash handball waved away by VAR.

A deft Ollie Watkins lob restored parity before the interval, and two rapid second-half goals from John McGinn and Emiliano Buendía turned the game on its head. Fulham still had a lifeline when Lukic’s effort was clawed off the line by Ezri Konsa after a Martínez error, but the moment passed, leaving Silva to lament what he later called “incredible” calls. Fulham remain on 10 points, just clinging to the top half.

Start made to measure, setback no one wanted

For 20 minutes, it looked like Silva’s blueprint. Jiménez rose to glance in Lukic’s corner and set the tone for a composed first half in which Villa failed to make a single tackle. The plan suffered an early blow when Jiménez was forced off injured, Adama Traoré taking his place, but Fulham retained control and carried a threat in transition.

King was lively on the break and Bernd Leno had to be alert, tipping over a Digne free-kick near half-time, but the visitors’ shape and pressing disrupted Villa. The feeling, at that stage, was that another chance would come.

Decisions that define a half

The flashpoint arrived when King burst on to Traoré’s through-ball, nudged it beyond Martínez and went to ground. Referee Andy Madley reached for a yellow card, with VAR official Matt Donohue upholding the simulation call despite replays showing contact. Silva bristled immediately and would later call such moments “incredible.”

Soon after, a shot struck Cash’s trailing arm, prompting another VAR review and another rejection. Harry Wilson was also cautioned for simulation, and Silva himself was booked for his protests. The sense that the margins were edging against Fulham coloured everything that followed.

One route-one ball and the mood shifts

Fulham’s control cracked with a single pass. Digne lofted a ball between Calvin Bassey and Joachim Andersen, Watkins stole in and lifted a measured finish over Leno. Bassey’s full-tilt recovery ended with him ensnared in the net as the ball crossed the line. From there, the stadium stirred and so did Villa.

After the break, a costly lapse compounded it. Traoré was dispossessed by Lamare Bogarde, Buendía moved play to McGinn, and the captain drilled low into the corner. Two minutes later, Watkins reached the byline and Buendía arrived to prod in a third. As Ryan Sessegnon later admitted, Fulham “collapsed” in that spell.

The chance that slipped away and the road ahead

There was still a route back. With Villa wobbling, Martínez underhit a pass from his own box, King intercepted and Traoré found Lukic, whose goal-bound strike was hooked off the line by Ezri Konsa. It was a sliding-doors moment; had it gone in, the finale would have felt very different.

Instead, Fulham’s poor record at Villa Park—just one win in their last 22 league visits—persisted, and the anger over officiating grew. Silva denied that King’s previous booking created a precedent and insisted the key calls were inexplicable. Attention now turns to Bournemouth on Friday and, after the international break, Arsenal at Craven Cottage; reset the press, tidy the details in both boxes, and the performance level shown early here will yield more.