Aston Villa remain the best of the rest in the Premiership. At half-time yesterday that was saying precious little for the rest but then two briskly taken goals in 12 minutes restored the early-season momentum of John Gregory's side and took them back to fourth place. For Fulham the euphoria of winning promotion from the First Division has all but evaporated. Jean Tigana's team may be 15th in the table but they are only two points off the bottom after winning just one of their first eight fixtures.
Yesterday was the story of Fulham's season so far. First, a series of opportunities were missed, then poor defending let them down. Late in the game Louis Saha, so prolific in the Nationwide, missed a penalty.
If marks were given for neatness Fulham would be in the top six but, as Tigana observed after the game: "We must win our next two games because we need the points. This league is very different, much harder."
At half-time Villa could consider themselves fortunate still to be in the contest. No team will score from every chance they create but Fulham should have taken at least one of the four which came their way.
Until George Boateng made space for himself before driving a 20-yard shot just wide in the 31st minute, little had happened to suggest Villa might score.
Half-time proved the game's watershed as Aston Villa rediscovered the joys of simple, accurate football.
After five minutes of the second half Gregory's team were ahead. A careless clearance by Zat Knight was followed by a brisk exchange of passes between Hendrie and Mustapha Hadji. The Moroccan's dipping centre was turned in by Vassell.
Twelve minutes later Angel's pass found Taylor making a good diagonal run, which caught the Fulham defence utterly square. Taylor duly drove Villa further ahead.
At present Fulham's owner Mohamed Al Fayed must doubt his team's ability to hit a pyramid at five paces.
ASTON VILLA: Schmeichel, Stone, Alpay, Staunton, Wright, Hadji, Hendrie, Boateng, Kachloul (Taylor 15), Angel (Balaban 62), Vassell.
FULHAM: Van der Sar, Finnan, Melville, Knight (Goma 65), Brevett, Collins, Malbranque, Davis (Hayles 66), Legwinski, Saha, Marlet (Boa Morte 66).
Referee: P Durkin (Dorset).
