Aston Villa 1-1 Fulham: result and report

The Pundit picked Aston Villa (49%): wrong

Report

Aston Villa took the lead at home but finished with only a draw. On the chances Fulham created, the visitors could easily have left with more than a point.

Villa wasted the first big moment. John McGinn missed a penalty on 16 minutes, though Villa still went ahead on 39 minutes when Nicolas Jackson scored from Johan Manzambi's assist. That lead held until the 64th minute, when Zion Suzuki's own goal made it 1-1.

The strange part is how Fulham drew level. They created the better chances all game, yet their goal came from a Villa player rather than one of their own. Fulham finished with 2.86 xG to Villa's 1.80 and had five shots on target to three. They also missed all four of their big chances.

That gap was about quality rather than volume. Both sides had ten shots and four big chances each, so Villa were not simply pinned back. But Fulham's openings were consistently the better ones. Villa's goalkeeper had to make four saves, while Bernd Leno and the Fulham defence faced two shots that needed saving.

Villa still have reasons to feel the game slipped away from them. They had 12 key passes to Fulham's eight and hit the woodwork once. Add the missed penalty, and they had their own chances to put the game beyond Fulham before the equaliser arrived.