Fulham at Aston Villa

Fulham gets off to an early start on Saturday with a trip to Aston Villa. The match kicks off at (yawn) 7:30am EDT on USA.

This is a huge match for both teams. With Forest's loss to Brentford yesterday, they are now out of the Champions League spots based on goal differential with Chelsea. Villa now sits just three points behind Forest and Chelsea so every point for them is critical if they want to return to the Champions League. But, Villa will have to pick themselves up from a number of disappointments in April. They gave their all against PSG, but still lost out to them in the Champions League quarterfinals. Manchester City beat them with an injury time winner at the Etihad. Then Villa put in a very poor showing against Palace in the FA Cup semi-final. They did throw a huge win against Newcastle in the mix there, but overall a down time for Aston Villa. Rashford may also be out the rest of the season, so Villa does have some challenges to overcome.

Meanwhile Fulham should have Robinson available again, but it looks like Muniz is done for the season. It will be interesting to see if Robinson plays a full 90 or if they try to limit his playing time with an eye on either ensuring he's healthy for next season or a transfer to a bigger club. At this point I won't be surprised if that takes priority over getting results on the pitch.

With Fulham down a striker, I have to think back to early this season with the decision to sell Jay Stansfield to Birmingham City. Down in League One, Birmingham City has destroyed the competition setting an EFL points record - 108 points out of 45 matches with one to go. They are 19 points clear of second place darlings, Wrexham. Stansfield has contributed 19 of their 82 goals this season. Fulham certainly got a nice sum for him, but Birmingham City will feel like it was a fair deal for what they got. I can't help but wonder if Fulham would have better off with him. Granted, League One is a huge step in quality from the Premier League, but he can produce.

 

I’m heading to Busch Gardens with the kid and his friends. So, do I watch the first half before leaving or just try to avoid it all day? Not sure if I’ll find time on Sunday for it. Probably a game time decision.

I don’t know what to think or expect from these late season matches. Villa definitely have something to play for though so I’ll give them the advantage. Fulham don’t go down too easy though so they will probably make it tough on them. I just want Fulham to break the 53 point record, and tomorrow seems like as good a day as any.

 

I'm up. Let's do this!

 

This snuck up on me! Sadly not today, but hopefully soon.

I was only able to see the highlights, but it seemed like the scoreline didn't tell the whole story. Except for a period in the second half it looked Villa were pretty dominant despite winning by just a goal. It was unfortunate that Fulham had to play the last 15 minutes down a man since Reed came off injured with no subs left that made any kind of hope for a comeback just about impossible.

That handball from Sessegnon was really unfortunate, it didn't even seem to change the path of the ball. So close to getting an equalizer.