(Football news) Tyrone Mings scored a header from a set piece as Aston Villa climbed up to 5th in the standings after they beat Fulham 1-0 at Villa Park which subsequently made sure that they are a step closer to European football next season. Villa are on 54 points after 33 games as they are one point ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and five points behind fourth-placed Manchester United. On the other hand, Fulham’s dream of European football got derailed after their fourth defeat in March and April, and are ninth on 45 points.
Fulham, since the match started, were on the back foot as they suffered an early blow when Willian was injured in the warm-up and was unable to play. The home side were under tremendous pressure in the opening 15 minutes, as they had a penalty turned down when Ollie Watkins was tripped in the box by Tosin Adarabioyo. Fulham was again forced into another change, this time Harry Wilson was off after 17 minutes to be replaced by the Jamaican international Bobby De Cordova-Reid.
Villa’s pressure finally paid off as they took the lead in the 21st minute when Mings met John McGinn’s corner which flashed across the goal for his first goal of the season. Fulham found their feet in the second half but failed to create any dangerous opportunities as they rarely threaten Emiliano Martinez in goal. Mings almost scored an own goal in the 82nd minute when he put the ball into his own net, but Harrison Reed was deemed to be offside in the build-up. Villa are on a remarkable run since Unai Emery took over in and yesterday’s win was their fifth straight home victory without conceding a goal
“We will look and see where we are. We have been doing that all season, when we were at the bottom as well. It is nice to look at it now when we are a bit higher,” goalscorer Mings told BT Sport, admitting it was about time he got on the scoresheet. “The manager was telling me if I don’t score he will drop me so I was just glad I got one tonight,”
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