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The pressure piled on Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard as his apathy crumbled in the 3-0 defeat to Fulham in the Premier League on Thursday.
The former England captain endured chants of “being sacked in the morning” among enthusiastic hosts when Harrison Reed and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored for Fulham before an opposite goal from Tyrone Mings added to Villa’s misery.
Reed’s powerful shot in the 36th minute gave Fulham a well-deserved lead after having arrived several times.
Villa’s cause didn’t help when Douglas Luiz won a red card just after the hour mark for a no-ball clash with Mitrovic and Matty Cash unfortunately conceded a penalty for a hand looking to block a shot.
Mitrovic made the switch for his eighth league goal of the season and Villa’s night worsened when Mings deflected a cross from Neeskens Kebano into his own net.
That’s it for today, goodbye!
Villa left to receive more boos in full-time whistle. They remain in 17th place, but now they only scored on purpose because their goal difference is the same as Wolves. The next step for them is Brentford at home. Fulham moved to the most sensible part of the table in ninth place ending their career without winning. On weekends they go to Leeds United.
The pressure took hold of Steven Gerrard as Fulham cruised to a 3-0 win over Villa in 10. Reed opened the scoring in the first half for the hosts, raising his shot into the corner. Mings also blocked Mitrovic’s shot on the line before that. For the moment, Luiz took a direct red card after the intervention of the VAR after bowing as if to give a header to Mitrovic. The Serb then sent a penalty with a great deflection on Martinez after a hand from Cash. The goal against his Mings closed the scoring late, as he doubled Kebano’s center.
FULL-TIME: FULHAM 3-0 ASTON VILLA.
Watkins cuts off Ream’s attempt to pass De Cordova-Reid cuts through Watkins, and drags him past the Jamaican to enter the area. He has a shot at a tight angle but flies it over the crossbar.
Martinez opted this time for maximum direct technique by playing above Watkins. He stood between two defenders but did enough to take a corner from Diop, who came to nothing.
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